We never tried to kill Trump, Iran's president tells NBC
Iran did not plot President-elect Donald Trump's assassination, President Masoud Pezeshkian told NBC, denying allegations by the US Justice Department.
Iran did not plot President-elect Donald Trump's assassination, President Masoud Pezeshkian told NBC, denying allegations by the US Justice Department.
"All the assassinations and acts of terror we see happening in Europe and elsewhere, can we see the footsteps of Iranian nationals or other nationals?" Pezeshkian was quoted as saying in translated remarks in a video preview of the NBC News interview.
"Have there been any links between those terrorist assassinations and Iran? Iran has never been in pursuit of assassination and acts of terror," he added.
Asked by anchor Lester Holt in the interview in Tehran whether Iran had plotted to kill Trump, Pezeshkian replied: "Never by no means."
Holt persisted, asking Pezeshkian if he would promise never to seek to kill Trump.
"Ever since the beginning, we never intended to do that," Pezeshkian said.
The US Justice Department in November unsealed murder-for-hire charges against an Afghan national it said was tasked by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with assassinating Trump.
Farhad Shakeri, 51, who is believed to be in Iran, was asked by an IRGC official "to put aside his other efforts on behalf of the IRGC and focus on surveilling, and, ultimately, assassinating (Trump)", the department said.
"Shakeri indicated to IRGC Official-I that this would cost a 'huge' amount of money. In response, IRGC Official-I said that 'we have already spent a lot of money ... [s]o the money's not an issue'."
Iranian officials have repeatedly denied any plot to kill Trump. However, that contradicts several statements by high-ranking officials who have threatened the former US president in the past few years.
Following Khamenei’s proclamation of a “harsh revenge” against the US killing of Soleimani, his official account on X (then Twitter) published an image of Trump on a golf course under the shadow of a drone, hinting at his targeting. That post has since been deleted.
Khamenei’s official website also released an animation with the same theme, showing IRGC forces killing Trump using a robot.
Message of peace
In his interview with NBC News, Pezeshkian added that Tehran is committed to peace and de-escalation, in a dovish message likely aimed at the incoming US administration
"The Islamic Republic of Iran is committed to peace and de-escalation in the region and globally, condemns the Zionist regime's war-mongering, aggression, and genocide, and stands ready for honorable and equal negotiations," Masoud Pezeshkian added.
The Washington-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation for Human Rights in Iran reported last year that the Islamic Republic had kidnapped, disappeared or extrajudicially 452 people beyond Iran's borders in its nearly half-century existence.
