US intelligence agencies were unable to independently verify specific Israeli warnings that Iran was planning to assassinate President Donald Trump, despite receiving multiple alerts from Israeli officials over the past year, according to a current US official and two former officials.
The warnings were shared with US intelligence agencies and, on some occasions, conveyed directly by Israeli officials to senior White House officials, the sources said.
The alleged plots reportedly included plans to shoot Trump with a sniper or recruit an attacker to target him with a knife at a major public event.
The warnings began before the 12-day war in June 2025 and intensified ahead of the US decision to enter the conflict with Iran in February, according to the sources.
The most detailed warning came ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara in July, when Israeli officials briefed the White House on intelligence suggesting that Iran could attempt to assassinate Trump while he travelled aboard Air Force One, potentially using a shoulder-launched missile, the US official and another person familiar with the matter said.
The US intelligence community has long assessed that Iran is seeking retaliation for Trump’s 2020 killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.
However, the Central Intelligence Agency was unable to corroborate some of the specific threats against Trump shared by Israeli intelligence since early last year, the officials said.
In the case of the NATO summit, a Turkish official said Turkish intelligence agencies also found no evidence supporting the Israeli claim and communicated that assessment to US officials.
Despite the lack of independent verification, White House officials and the US Secret Service took precautionary measures to reduce the potential risks.
Those measures included an unusual deception operation during Trump’s Turkey trip, when he was transferred from Air Force One to another aircraft for his departure from the country.
The episode highlights the influence of Israeli intelligence on the Trump administration’s approach to Iran, amid continuing differences between US and Israeli intelligence assessments of the threat posed by Tehran.
Earlier this year, US intelligence agencies assessed that Iran was not actively developing a nuclear weapon, while Israel maintained that Tehran represented an urgent threat.
Despite the US assessment, Trump ordered strikes on Iran in February. Reuters had previously reported that Trump also considered Israeli intelligence suggesting that Tehran had attempted to assassinate him before the military campaign.
An Israeli embassy spokesperson rejected the suggestion that Israel was using intelligence-sharing to influence US policy towards Iran.
“The same people who claim that Israel is trying to influence U.S. policy through alleged intelligence sharing would just as soon accuse Israel of concealing critical information if it benefited their own agenda,” the spokesperson said.
The White House and CIA declined to comment.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi also declined to discuss specific intelligence matters but said the agency remained focused on protecting Trump following recent assassination attempts and a rise in threats against the president.
“The U.S. Secret Service continuously analyzes a wide range of information to guide our protective operations in real time and across every location we secure,” he said.
The US has historically relied heavily on Israeli intelligence on Middle Eastern security issues, particularly those involving Iran.
The current and former officials said Israeli intelligence on Iran typically reaches the CIA or National Security Agency through formal channels before being subjected to further analysis.
While US intelligence agencies are often unable to independently verify Israeli intelligence, officials use other sources of information to assess its authenticity and accuracy.
During the two US military offensives against Iran, the CIA assessed that it had “low confidence” in Israeli intelligence concerning threats from Tehran, including alleged plans to assassinate Trump, according to a former US official and another person familiar with the matter.
It remains unclear how widely those assessments have been circulated within the Trump administration.
The NSA declined to comment.
Two former US officials said senior Israeli officials and representatives had contacted the White House several times over the past year, including the Situation Room, to brief senior Trump administration officials directly on alleged Iranian threats.
The direct engagement comes amid reported weakening of intelligence-sharing mechanisms within the Trump administration.
The former officials said the CIA stopped working on joint assessments with the National Intelligence Council last year after tensions escalated with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The council serves as the US intelligence community’s principal analytical body under the supervision of the ODNI. It produces assessments intended to reflect the broader intelligence community’s position, with the CIA serving as its largest contributor.
The officials and another person familiar with the matter also linked a decline in recent National Intelligence Council assessments on Iran partly to layoffs at the ODNI.
