The United States received several warnings from Israel over the past year that Iran planned to assassinate President Donald Trump, but US intelligence officials could not independently verify the specific threats, according to a current US official and two former officials.
The warnings were passed to US intelligence agencies and, in some cases, relayed directly by Israeli officials to senior White House officials, the sources said.
They included alleged plans to shoot Trump with a sniper or recruit someone to attack him with a knife at a large public event.
The warnings began ahead of the 12-day war in June 2025 and intensified before the US decision to enter the war with Iran in February, the sources said.
The most detailed warning came ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara in July, according to the US official and another person familiar with the matter.
Israeli officials briefed the White House on intelligence indicating that Iran might try to kill Trump while he travelled aboard Air Force One to the summit, potentially using a shoulder-launched missile, the officials said.
The US intelligence community has long assessed that Iran wants to retaliate for 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.
In the NATO case, a Turkish official said the country’s intelligence agencies also found no evidence supporting the Israeli claim about a threat to Trump’s life. Turkey shared that assessment with US officials.
Despite the lack of verification, White House officials and the Secret Service took steps to reduce the risks as a precaution.
That included an unusual deception operation during Trump’s Turkey trip, in which he was moved from Air Force One to another aircraft for his flight out of the country.
The episode highlights the influence of Israeli intelligence on the Trump administration’s decisions on Iran, as disagreements continue between US and Israeli intelligence assessments of the threat posed by Tehran.
Earlier this year, US intelligence agencies assessed that Iran was not actively building a nuclear weapon, while Israel argued that Tehran posed an urgent threat.
Despite the US intelligence assessment, Trump ordered strikes on Iran in February. Reuters previously reported that Trump also considered Israeli intelligence indicating that Tehran had attempted to assassinate him before launching the military campaign.
An Israeli embassy spokesperson rejected the suggestion that Israel was using its intelligence to influence US policy on Iran.
“The same people who claim that Israel is trying to influence U.S. policy through alleged intelligence sharing would just as soon accuse Israel of concealing critical information if it benefited their own agenda,” the spokesperson said.
The White House and CIA declined to comment.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi also declined to discuss specific intelligence matters but said the agency remained focused on Trump’s security following recent assassination attempts and an increase in threats against the president.
“The U.S. Secret Service continuously analyzes a wide range of information to guide our protective operations in real time and across every location we secure,” he said.
The US has long relied heavily on Israeli intelligence on Middle East issues, particularly those involving Iran.
The current and former officials said Israeli intelligence on Iran typically reaches the CIA or National Security Agency through formal channels before being analysed.
US intelligence agencies often cannot verify Israeli intelligence but use other information to assess its authenticity and accuracy, the officials said.
During the two US military offensives in Iran, the CIA assessed that it had “low confidence” in Israeli intelligence about threats posed by Iran, including alleged plans to assassinate Trump, according to a former US official and another person familiar with the matter.
It remains unclear how widely those assessments have circulated within the administration.
The NSA declined to comment.
Two former US officials told Reuters that senior Israeli officials and representatives had contacted the White House several times over the past year, including the Situation Room, to brief senior Trump officials directly about Iranian threats.
The direct engagement comes as intelligence sharing within the Trump administration has weakened.
The former officials said the CIA stopped working on joint assessments with the National Intelligence Council last year after tensions increased with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The council is the US intelligence community’s main analytical body overseen by ODNI. It produces assessments intended to reflect the broader intelligence community’s view, with the CIA serving as its largest contributor.
Fewer recent Iran assessments by the NIC have also been partly linked to layoffs at ODNI, according to the officials and another person familiar with the matter.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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