Mohsen Rezaei said Netanyahu had used the alleged threat to frighten Trump. “These are major lies that Netanyahu managed to trick Trump with,” he said.
Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei on Thursday dismissed claim about a potential plot to assassinate US President Donald Trump’s youngest son, Barron Trump, saying the allegation was fabricated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In an interview broadcast by Lebanon’s Al Manar TV, Rezaei said Netanyahu had used the alleged threat to frighten Trump. “These are major lies that Netanyahu managed to trick Trump with,” he said.
He claimed that if Iran had decided to carry out an assassination, “nothing would prevent us from doing so”, dismissing the reports as “lies that Netanyahu fabricates”.
Rezaei also referred to an incident involving Trump at the NATO summit in Turkey in July, when the US president switched from Air Force One to a smaller military aircraft after arriving in view of television cameras.
“Trump was scared,” Rezaei said, claiming that after Netanyahu told him Iran was planning to assassinate him, the US president hid in a “food truck” to escape.
“He came to Turkey on that huge plane, and Netanyahu told him that the Iranians are working to assassinate you, so they put him in a food truck and smuggled him like workers,” Iran’s security chief noted.
Secret Service Aware Of Video
The comments came after the US Secret Service said on Tuesday that it was aware of an Iranian state television video discussing a potential plot to assassinate Barron Trump, 20.
“The US Secret Service is aware of the video and investigates anything that can be perceived as a threat toward our protectees,” spokesperson Nate Herring told Reuters in an email. He declined to discuss protective intelligence for operational security reasons.
The three-minute video claimed Barron Trump was being monitored and alleged that a $10 million bounty had been offered for his killing. There was no indication in the material that such a plot had been substantiated.