After US allegations, Iran denies plot to assassinate Trump
Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi says ‘repulsive’ charges by US prosecutors were conjured by Israel and opposition expats seeking to undermine US-Iran relations
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi denied US charges that Tehran was linked to an alleged plot to kill Donald Trump and called on Saturday for confidence-building between the two hostile countries.
“Now … a new scenario is fabricated… as a killer does not exist in reality, scriptwriters are brought in to manufacture a third-rate comedy,” Araghchi wrote in a post on X.
He was referring to the plot which US prosecutors said was ordered by Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards to assassinate Trump, who won Tuesday’s presidential election and takes office in January.
“The American people have made their decision. And Iran respects their right to elect the president of their choice. The path forward is also a choice. It begins with respect,” Araghchi said.
“Iran is NOT after nuclear weapons, period. This is a policy based on Islamic teachings and our security calculations. Confidence-building is needed from both sides. It is not a one-way street,” he added.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said earlier that the claim of an assassination plan was a “repulsive” plot by Israel and the Iranian opposition outside the country to “complicate matters between America and Iran.”
Remember the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran right after our President's inauguration? Everyone knows who did it and why.
Now, with another election, a new scenario is fabricated with the same goal: as a killer does not exist in reality, scriptwriters are brought in…
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) November 9, 2024
Iran unilaterally cut diplomatic ties with the US after its Islamic revolution in 1979. The country has since vowed to fight “American imperialism,” seeing the destruction of Israel as a primary objective in that struggle.
Iranian analysts and insiders have not dismissed the possibility of a detente between Tehran and Washington under Trump, although without restoring diplomatic ties.
“Iran will act based on its own interests. It is possible that secret talks between Tehran and Washington take place. If security threats against the Islamic Republic are removed, anything is possible,” Tehran-based analyst Saeed Laylaz said this week.
While facing off against arch-foe Israel, Iran’s clerical leadership is also concerned about the possibility of an all-out war in the region, where Israel is engaged in conflicts with Tehran’s proxies in Gaza and Lebanon.
One of Trump’s most notable foreign policy decisions during his previous term was to unilaterally withdraw the US from a six-nation agreement that temporarily paused Iran’s nuclear program. While the withdrawal caused new sanctions to be placed on the Islamic Republic, it emboldened Tehran to continue nuclear proliferation.
