Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made a bombshell allegation, claiming that Iran was behind two failed assassination attempts on former President Donald Trump. During a televised interview on Fox News aired Sunday, Netanyahu described Trump as a significant impediment to Iran's nuclear ambitions and suggested that the Islamic regime sought to remove him through proxies.
The first incident occurred in July 2024, when engineering student Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The attempt was thwarted as a bullet only grazed Trump's ear before Crooks was fatally shot by a Secret Service sniper. In the second incident, Ryan Routh was arrested at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, in September 2024, carrying a semi-automatic rifle and a manifesto linking himself to Crooks while denouncing the U.S. political system.
Although U.S. agencies have not officially confirmed any connection between the assailants and Iran, Netanyahu insisted on their involvement. "Through proxies, yes. Through their intel, yes. They want to kill him," Netanyahu stated in the interview with Fox anchor Bret Baier. This bold assertion by the Israeli Prime Minister is the most direct accusation to date linking Iran to the 2024 plots, as reported by the New York Post.
Trump himself had previously hinted at a connection to Iran during a speech in September 2024, yet no formal declaration by the government had been made. Netanyahu emphasized the gravity of the threat by asking, "Do you want these people to have nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them to your cities? Of course not. So we're defending ourselves, but we're also defending the world."
Iran has consistently denied any involvement in assassination attempts targeting either Trump or Israeli officials. Nonetheless, in November 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice charged an unnamed member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) with an attempt to hire Farhad Shakeri, 51, to surveil and kill Trump. The prosecutors mentioned that the operative assured that money would not be a problem for completing the task.
Adding a personal note, Netanyahu mentioned that Iran had also attempted to assassinate him but viewed Trump as the greater threat. "Look, they also tried to kill me, but I’m his junior partner," Netanyahu told Baier. "They understand that President Trump is a great threat to Iran's plans to weaponize nuclear weapons and use them."
Netanyahu's explosive claims come at a time of escalating tensions between Israel and Iran, with recent missile exchanges intensifying the conflict. The Israeli leader appealed to the American public to acknowledge Iran's growing menace and support Israel's military actions.
The full interview can be watched on Fox News' Twitter account, where Netanyahu responds to questions following Iran's missile attacks.
