Israel warned US of Iran plots on Trump, but intelligence could not verify: sources

The United States received multiple warnings from Israel over the past year that Iran intended to assassinate President Donald Trump, including a specific threat before a secret Air Force One ruse in Turkey, but U.S. intelligence officials could not independently verify these claims, according to a current U.S. official and two former officials.

The warnings, passed to U.S. intelligence agencies and in some cases relayed directly by Israeli officials to senior White House officials, included possible plots to shoot Mr. Trump with a sniper or recruit someone to attack him with a knife at a large public event, the sources said.

The tips began in the lead-up to the 12-day war in June 2025 and intensified prior to the U.S. decision to go to war in Iran in February, the sources added. The most detailed warning came ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara in July. Israeli officials briefed the White House about intelligence indicating Iran may try to kill Mr. Trump, potentially with a shoulder-launched missile, while he traveled on Air Force One for the summit.

The U.S. intelligence community has long assessed that Iran wants to retaliate for Mr. Trump's killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020. However, the Central Intelligence Agency has not been able to corroborate some of the specific threats against Trump's life shared by Israeli intelligence since early last year, the officials said.

This report is based on information from a current U.S. official and two former officials, as relayed by Reuters. The White House and CIA have not commented on the specifics of these warnings. The development highlights the delicate nature of intelligence-sharing between allies and the challenges of verifying threat information in a volatile West Asia environment.