Donald Trump informed about alleged Iranian assassination plot | Donald Trump

US intelligence officials informed Donald Trump about an alleged Iranian assassination plot against him, his campaign team said.

The briefing by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) is believed to be about a plot unrelated to the two failed domestic assassination attempts on the Republican presidential candidate. The report came against the backdrop of reports suggesting that Iran is currently conducting a hacking attack on the Trump campaign team.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said the briefing was about “real and concrete threats from Iran to assassinate (Trump) in order to destabilize the United States and create chaos.”

He added: “Intelligence agencies have determined that these sustained and coordinated attacks have increased in recent months, and law enforcement officials from all agencies are working to ensure that President Trump is protected and the election takes place without interference.”

The ODNI confirmed to the Guardian on Wednesday morning that the meeting had taken place.

In a post on his website Truth Social, Trump referred to the briefing and predicted that there would be another assassination attempt on him.

“Iran has threatened to kill me,” he wrote. “Iran has tried before and they haven't worked, but they will try again. Not a good situation for anyone. I am surrounded by more men, guns and weapons than I have ever seen before… An attack on a former president is a death sentence for the attacker!”

Intelligence officials were reportedly pursuing an Iran-backed plot to assassinate Trump even before the July 13 attack. The attack was carried out by a lone gunman named Thomas Crooks, who killed a rally attendee before being killed by a Secret Service agent.

Investigators found no evidence that 20-year-old Crooks was part of a larger conspiracy and concluded that he acted alone.

The Iranian motive for killing Trump is said to stem from a desire for revenge. When Trump was still president, he ordered the US attack that killed Major General Qassim Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force, in January 2020.

Iran has denied planning an assassination attempt on Trump.

This comes after a Senate report was released on Wednesday into Trump's shooting at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in July. The report concluded that there was a leadership failure among the Secret Service team tasked with protecting him.

The plot identified by the ODNI is believed to be different not only from the Pennsylvania attack, but also from a second suspected domestic assassination attempt earlier this month at Trump's golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, that was foiled after a Secret Service agent shot an armed man lurking in the bushes.

Suspected shooter Ryan Routh was arrested after his escape and charged with attempted murder of Trump on Tuesday.

In August, federal prosecutors charged a Pakistani man with ties to Iran with involvement in a plot to assassinate an unidentified U.S. politician.

Last week, U.S. intelligence officials said Iranian hackers stole materials from the Trump campaign and leaked them to media outlets and Joe Biden's now-defunct campaign, all of which refused to publish them. A Microsoft threat assessment has linked the hack to a group within Iran's Revolutionary Guard.