For decades, the Iranian dictatorship – the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism – has been waging a war of assassinations.
After President Donald J. Trump ordered the killing of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the architect of the nation’s terrorist activities, the Iranian government responded by targeting President Trump and key members of his administration. Among others, this included former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The American government has spent millions of dollars on defensive efforts to protect these former government officials.
The threat is not limited to the United States. According to a Feb. 27 report by CBS News:
“The head of the new British police unit to target foreign plots and Britain’s head of counter-terrorism policing, Matt Jukes, told ‘60 Minutes’ that the U.K. had foiled 15 Iranian kidnapping and assassination attempts.
“‘I have been involved in national security policing for over 20 years. What we’ve seen in the last 18 months is a real acceleration,’ Jukes said last year.”
Now, the Iranian dictatorship’s threat to President Trump has grown real. The Trump campaign asked for a military plane that could survive a stinger missile attack and for aid from special forces members with anti-drone capabilities.
State-sponsored terrorism is a much bigger threat than a disturbed 20-year-old with a rifle. Yet, the young would-be assassin came terrifyingly close to his goal in Butler, Penn.
President Joe Biden said he would get President Trump whatever he needs for his safety. However, the administration has completely failed to raise the resources and sophistication of Trump’s protection to the level of the potential Iranian threat.
Consider the many years of Iranian assassination efforts.
Since Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seized power in 1979, the Iranian dictatorship has used assassination as a weapon in its undeclared war against all enemies. The United States and Israel are the two biggest targets – but they are far from Iran’s only ones.
When Salman Rushdie published his 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses,” Khomeini deemed the book a heretical attack on Mohamed and ordered Rushdie killed. Rushdie has lived under a death threat ever since. Just two years ago, he was stabbed ten times and lost an eye while speaking at a lecture in New York.
The Iranian dictatorship focused on killing Iranian refugees who actively opposed to the regime. More than 440 Iranian dissidents have been killed.
I was at a mass rally in Paris for a free Iran when a bomb was discovered by the French police. We were all safe, but it was a sobering reminder of how violent the Iranian dictatorship can be.
Time Magazine captured how serious the threat is to President Trump in an article on Sept. 23.
According to the article, Pakistani national Asif Merchant was arrested on July 12 for his involvement in an assassination attempt on President Trump. Officially, the target was “a political person,” but many experts have concluded that President Trump was the target. U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley was responsible for publicly posting the FBI affidavit on Sept. 5 after a whistleblower gave it to him.
Merchant’s involvement included scouting a Trump rally, reporting on the event’s security to his Iranian handler, and planning the overall assassination attempt in the United States. Merchant’s handler further charged him with finding assassins for the plan. As the plot developed, the number of individuals involved grew to almost 30.
So far, 2024 has seen a total of three assassination attempts against Donald Trump. The Iranian plot was the only one successfully foiled in advance of its attempted enactment. Trump was shot in the ear in Butler, Penn., and a second would-be assassin attempted to shoot Trump on his golf course in in West Palm Beach before he was discovered. Ironically, the Iranian effort resulted in increased Secret Service protection before the two following attempts, which federal officials say have no apparent links to Iran.
Iran’s intent to assassinate President Trump has marked a shift in its foreign policy. For 45 years, Iran has mainly targeted overseas dissidents with killings, not political figures of other nations. With its vowed revenge against President Trump, Iran has been proclaimed that “Soleimani will be avenged.”
Given this history of assassinations around the world, it is shocking that President Biden has refused to provide the sophisticated aircraft and anti-drone capabilities President Trump’s team has requested.
You would think that three assassination attempts would be enough to convince President Biden that his duty and legacy require his administration go all out to protect President Trump.
To his credit President Biden has “reportedly instructed his National Security Council to make clear to Iran that any attempt on former President Trump’s life would be viewed as an act of war.”
Speaker Mike Johnson also tweeted a supportive commitment that “any assassination attempt against President Trump WILL be regarded as an act of war.”
Given the scale of the Israeli effort against Iran’s terror proxies – and the imminent threat of an Israeli assault on Iran itself – it is possible that joint warnings of President Biden and Speaker Johnson will convince the dictatorship that its survival would be in jeopardy if anything happened to President Trump.
These are dangerous times. We should all demand that President Biden provide President Trump with the highest level of defense against possible state-sponsored assassination attempts.
We must take the Iranian assassination threat seriously and react with equal seriousness. Any assassination attempt against President Trump WILL be regarded as an act of war.
For more commentary from Newt Gingrich, visit Gingrich 360.com. Also, subscribe to the Newt’s World podcast.