Iran ‘never’ plotted to kill Trump during campaign, Iran’s president tells NBC News
January 14, 2025
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Iran “never” plotted to assassinate Donald Trump during last year’s U.S. election campaign, President Masoud Pezeshkian told NBC News’ Lester Holt in an exclusive interview in Tehran.
Asked about the reported plot against Trump outlined by U.S. authorities, Pezeshkian said: “This is another one of those schemes that Israel and other countries are designing to promote Iranophobia. … Iran has never attempted to nor does it plan to assassinate anyone. At least as far as I know.”
Holt then asked Pezeshkian: “You’re saying there was never an Iranian plot to kill Donald Trump?”
“None whatsoever,” Pezeshkian replied.
Asked if Iran is willing to promise that there will be no attempt on Trump’s life, Pezeshkian said, “We have never attempted this to begin with and we never will.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during an interview with Lester Holt on Monday.NBC Nightly News
The interview is the Iranian president’s first with foreign media since the U.S. presidential election. It was conducted with a government interpreter present and translating in real time. NBC News reviewed the translation independently, and where there are discrepancies this article relies on the independent translation.
In November, the Justice Department charged an Iranian man in an alleged murder-for-hire effort to kill Trump when he was the Republican Party presidential candidate. Two others were charged for allegedly planning to kill an Iranian American journalist and activist who has criticized the Iranian government over its treatment of women.
U.S. authorities said the plot was part of Iran’s efforts to avenge the death of a top Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in Baghdad in a U.S. drone strike ordered by Trump during his first term in office.
In mid-October of last year, Iran sent a written message via Swiss diplomats saying that it would not seek to kill Trump, according to a U.S. official, NBC News previously reported.
U.S. and European governments say Iran for years has sought to silence Iranians abroad who have criticized the regime.
The United Kingdom last year summoned Iran’s top diplomat in London after Iranian journalists based in Britain were targeted for intimidation by Tehran. One journalist was stabbed in the leg in an attack blamed on Iran. Tehran denies the accusations.
For more on this story, tune in to NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. CT or check your local listings.
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