Iran never plotted to kill Republican US President-elect Donald Trump, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said, denying past claims from Trump and the U.S. government.
In November, the US Justice Department charged an Iranian man in connection with an alleged plot ordered by Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps to assassinate the US president-elect. Law enforcement thwarted the alleged plan before any attack was carried out.
Trump also said last year during the US election campaign that Iran may have been behind attempts to kill him.
“None whatsoever,” Pezeshkian said in an NBC News interview on Tuesday. When asked if there was an Iranian plan to kill Trump. “We have never attempted this to begin with and we never will.”
Trump, who won last year’s US election and will take office on Monday, survived two assassination attempts during the campaign – one in September while he was golfing on his course in West Palm Beach, Florida, and another during a July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Investigators have found no evidence of Iranian involvement in either.
Iran has also previously denied US claims of interfering in American affairs, including through cyber operations.
Tehran says Washington has interfered in its affairs for decades, citing events ranging from a 1953 coup against a prime minister to the 2020 killing of its military commander in a U.S. drone strike.
Pezeshkian also claimed Iran was not seeking “nuclear weaponry” and warned Trump against risking “war” with the Islamic republic.
“I do hope that Trump will conduce to peace in the region and the world not, conversely, contribute to bloodshed or war,” Pezeshkian said in an interview with NBC News, less than a week before Trump returns to the White House.
Washington has not maintained formal diplomatic relations with Tehran for nearly 45 years, and Trump threatened during his recent presidential campaign that US ally Israel could strike Iranian nuclear facilities.
“We will react to any action. We do not fear war, but we do not seek it,” Pezeshkian said about the prospect of US-endorsed Israeli military strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi reported Tuesday that European powers were serious about resuming nuclear program negotiations.
In 2015, Iran and world powers — including France, Britain and Germany — reached an agreement that eased international sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.
But the United States, during Trump’s first term in office, unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018 and reimposed biting economic sanctions.
Tehran adhered to the deal until Washington’s withdrawal, but then began rolling back on its commitments.
“We do not seek to create nuclear weaponry or armament,” Pezeshkian said. “However, they accuse us of seeking the manufacturing of a bomb.”
When asked by NBC News host Lester Holt about the possibility of having talks with Trump once he returns to power, the Iranian leader was sceptical.
“The problem we have is not in dialogue. It’s in the commitments that arise from talks and dialogue that we’ll have to commit to,” Pezeshkian said, adding: “It was the other party did not live up to its promises and obligations.”
