Washington:
Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iran should be “blown to smithereens” if the Islamic Republic is involved in harming a US candidate or ex-president of the White House.
The provocative comments come after US intelligence warned of threats from Tehran against the Republican’s life following two apparent assassination attempts in recent months.
“As you know, to our knowledge, there have been two assassination attempts on my life, which may or may not have involved Iran — but possibly did —,” Trump said at a campaign rally in North Carolina.
“If I were the president, I would inform the threatening country, in this case Iran, that if you do anything to harm this person, we will blow your largest cities and the country itself to smithereens,” he added .
Trump further said that he and the United States have been “very directly threatened by Iran” and that a strong message was needed to reach Tehran that there would be the most serious consequences if the country became involved in plots to overthrow an American president to kill or hurt. presidential candidate.
“The best way to do this is through the office of the president, that (if) you launch attacks on former presidents or candidates for president, your country will be blown to smithereens, as we say.”
Trump also said it was “strange” that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was in New York this week and given substantial protection as he attended the United Nations General Assembly, even as news of the threats emerged.
“We have large security forces guarding him, and yet they threaten our former president and the leading candidate to become the next president of the United States,” Trump said, referring to himself.
The United States is required to extend security to foreign heads of state in the General Assembly under its treaty with the United Nations and its own laws.
– ‘Credible intelligence’ –
Trump’s comments come as world leaders scramble to prevent hostilities between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel from escalating into a broader regional war.
Iran has rejected accusations that it is trying to assassinate Trump this summer, shortly after a gunman opened fire at a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, killing one person and wounding the presidential candidate.
Days later, Trump posted on social media that if Iran were to kill him, “I hope America destroys Iran and wipes it off the face of the earth.”
In a highly critical report on Trump’s security arrangements at the Pennsylvania rally, a U.S. Senate committee noted that the deployment of elite countersnipers from the U.S. Secret Service took place “in response to ‘credible information’ about a threat.”
On Wednesday, Trump, 78, suggested that the would-be killer in Pennsylvania had used “potentially foreign apps,” and that the alleged shooter in the second attempt in Florida had multiple cellphones that Trump said U.S. authorities had used. cannot be opened.
“They need to get Apple to open these foreign apps (and) open the second lunatic’s six phones,” Trump said. “Because the stakes are high.”
On Wednesday, US Attorney General Merrick Garland called the assassination attempts “abhorrent.”
“Our country has now experienced two assassination attempts on the former president in the last three months. That is disgusting,” he said.
“The Department of Justice will not tolerate violence that strikes at the core of our democracy. And we will find those who commit it and hold them accountable. This has to stop.”
In August, the United States announced that it had foiled a plan by a Pakistani linked to Tehran to assassinate a US official in revenge for the death of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US attack in 2020. attack in Iraq on the orders of then-President Trump. .
US intelligence agencies have also warned of attempted cyber attacks on the presidential campaigns of Trump and rival Kamala Harris by actors they say are backed by Iran.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)