The stark warning comes as Trump's team was briefed on specific attempts on Trump's life and made an unusual request for military aircraft in the final days of the campaign.
The United States made an unprecedented effort to protect the former president from Iran's retaliation for the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani in 2020. About $150 million a year went to protect officials like former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, former head of U.S. Central Command, according to Politico.
The Trump campaign recently asked the former president for military aircraft with missile capabilities, just weeks before the election.
Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, center, in 2016, was killed by U.S. forces in 2020. (Press Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
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When pressed by Fox News Digital last month, the White House declined to say whether Biden believed killing Trump would be an act of war, but promised to keep Trump's team informed about the threat assessment from Iran.
“We consider this to be a national and homeland security issue of the highest priority, and we are strongly Condemnation of Iran for this brazen threat,” said Sean Savitt, spokesman for the National Security Council. He confirmed that Iran had long sought revenge for Trump's assassination of Soleimani.
“We ensure that the appropriate agencies continually and promptly provide the former president's security details with information about evolving threats. Additionally, President Biden reiterated his directive that the United States Secret Service must utilize all necessary resources, capabilities, and safeguards to address developments. Threats to the former president.”
Trump and his senior officials who ordered the attacks in 2020 have faced death threats from Iran, which recently hacked Trump's campaign and attempted to leak information to Democrats and the media.
Trump prompted Biden to tell Iran it would “Expand on Smithereen” if a US politician was affected.
“If I were president, I would tell the threatening country, in this case Iran, that if they do anything to harm this person, we will destroy their biggest cities and the country itself,” he repeated.
Iran led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei did not hide its intention to assassinate Trump. (Atta Kenner/AFP via Getty Images)
Biden warned Iran that any attempt to kill Trump would be an act of war. (via Aaron Schwartz/Meninas/Bloomberg Getty Images)
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Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in July — and the Secret Service foiled another at his Florida golf course in September. Trump speculated that the effort may be linked to Iran, a claim that has not been verified by authorities.
In addition to a military plane, Trump's campaign called for armored vehicles normally reserved for sitting presidents, more flight restrictions on his rallies and residences, retaliation for decoy planes and more money for the Secret Service and local law enforcement agencies to protect him.
Biden told reporters on Friday that he would be happy to offer military aircraft to Trump in the final stages of his campaign, “as long as he doesn’t want F-15s.”
“Look, what I told the department is to give him everything he needs — as if he were a sitting president,” he said. “Give him what he needs. If it falls into that category, fine.”
Iran has not hidden its intention to kill Trump. In 2022, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini aired an animated clip of a drone shooting at Trump on his golf course. This video was recently seen online.
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In June, undercover FBI agents met with a Pakistani man who wanted to hire assassins to kill a US politician, according to documents released in August. They arrested the man, Asif Merchant, 46, on July 12, the day before Trump's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
In 2022, the Justice Department charged a member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with the attempted assassination of former national security adviser John Bolton.
