Is this the truth?
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says his country “never” plotted to assassinate President-elect Trump and affirmed that “we never will.”
Pezeshkian made the statement during an interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt on Tuesday in Tehran. U.S. intelligence authorities had stated that Iran was exploring an attempt on Trump’s life prior to Election Day.
“This is another one of those schemes that Israel and other countries are designing to promote Iranophobia. … Iran has never attempted to nor does it plan to assassinate anyone. At least as far as I know.”
“You’re saying there was never an Iranian plot to kill Donald Trump?” Holt asked.
“None whatsoever,” Pezeshkian replied. “We have never attempted this to begin with, and we never will.”
The statement comes as Trump’s incoming special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Ret. Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, recently stated that the United States must return to the policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran.
“For the United States, a policy of maximum pressure must be reinstated, and it must be reinstated with the help of the rest of the globe, and that includes standing with the Iranian people and their aspirations for democracy,” Kellogg said.
In December, President-elect Donald Trump’s FBI director pick Kash Patel, was the target of an Iranian hacking plot.
Sources close to the matter informed CNN that the hackers successfully accessed some of Patel’s communications.
Hackers reportedly accessed some of Patel’s communications, according to one source. Patel, a former chief of staff to the defense secretary during Trump’s first term, has been a vocal critic of Iran and an advocate for aggressive measures against the regime.
While refraining from addressing the specifics of the incident, Trump transition spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer framed Patel’s leadership as integral to the incoming administration’s security policies.
“Kash Patel was a key part of the first Trump administration’s efforts against the terrorist Iranian regime and will implement President Trump’s policies to protect America from adversaries as the FBI Director,” Pfeiffer told the network.
