Secret Service Under Investigation Brings Back “Iranian Threat”

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Written by Uriel Araujo, researcher with a focus on international and ethnic conflicts

According to a TIME magazine story, based on unnamed sources,  the US Secret Service “boosted security around former President Donald Trump after picking up intelligence in recent weeks of an Iranian plot to assassinate him.” The same sources in any case have added that Trump’s attempted assassination on July 13, 2024 had nothing to do with the alleged plot, there being no evidence of any connection between Thomas Matthew Crooks (the would-be assassin) and Iran. Crooks was killed by snipers after opening fire. One of the shots only grazed Trump’s right ear, while another one killed a volunteer firefighter who was in the crowd. Much has been made of it, but the truth is that there is nothing new about the Secret Service monitoring statements made by Iranian authorities or clerics. It has been doing so since 2020.

The US Secret Service (SS) is known to investigate any threats against an American President, following all leads, even unlikely ones. For example, in July 2003, the Los Angeles Times published a Sunday editorial cartoon by Michael Ramirez depicting a man pointing a gun at then President Bush’s head (in the cartoon, the man was labeled “Politics”, and the background was labeled “Iraq”) – this being obviously a reference to the famous 1969 Eddie Adams photo showing the South Vietnamese National Police Chief Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a Viet Cong prisoner. The Secret Service paid a visit to the LA Times in an attempt to interrogate Ramirez.

In an even more absurd case, in 2005, a school student tacked a photograph of then President George Bush to a tall and drew a thumbs-down sign next to it. This “threat” was reported to the police by a Wal-Mart photo department employee and the matter was investigated by the SS. Such things can lead to convictions too: in 2010, a “White nationalist” was sentenced to 33 months in prison for posting a poem about assassinating President Obama. Eminem, the rapper, was also “interviewed” by Secret Service agents, in 2017, over “threatening” Trump in his rap lyrics. One could go on and on.

It is no surprise that rhetoric statements by Iranian authorities in Tehran are investigated by the American Secret Service as possible “plots” to assassinate a US President. Such Iranian statements against Trump have been investigated for years, since the previous Trump presidency, according to National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson. Watson adds that such “threats” arise from the Persian nation’s desire to seek revenge over the murder of Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Then US President Donald Trump, one may recall, ordered the said assassination (by drone strike near Baghdad International Airport) of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in January 2020, and this has prompted many voices within Iraq itself to call for the withdrawal of foreign troops – with tensions on the rise to this day, as I wrote elsewhere. At the time, the assassination was praised by both Israel and the ISIS terrorist group. Soleimani and  Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, (who was also killed during the strike), were both leading figures in the anti-terrorist struggle against ISIS in the Levant.

Tehran, however, rejects any such accusations. Last week, a foreign ministry spokesman stated that Iran “strongly rejects any involvement in the recent armed attack against Trump… considering such allegations to have malicious political motives and objectives.” He adds that Tehran remains determined to “prosecute” Trump for the illegal Soleimani assassination.

Israel has been bent on provoking Iranian responses to get its American backer involved in their regional war. Thus far, as I wrote, such has been to no avail. On April 1, Israel bombed Iran’s diplomatic compound in Syria; Tehran retaliated two weeks later with a major show of force: the attack involved more than 120 ballistic missiles, 30 cruise missiles, and 170 drones, and lasted about five hours, with explosions heard in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and in cities all over Israel. Air raid sirens sounded in over 700 locations.

And yet Washington did not support an Israeli attack against Iran but rather worked hard to curb the Jewish state’s more aggressive plans. Iranian authorities in fact displayed restraint (they knew the strikes would be intercepted as they indeed were). The West in turn has demonstrated that for now it does not seek full escalation. Since 2011, that is, for over a decade, Washington has been mostly “withdrawing” from the Middle East in general, a trend that became clear enough ten years later, when its troops left Afghanistan in 2021 (a decision made by Trump, by the way).

By targeting a former President (who is also a presidential candidate), Tehran could risk ruining this tense and delicate “balance”. It would make no sense, strategically-wise. If elected again, Trump is expected to continue with economic pressure and sanctions on Iran, while also seeking a new deal to have the Islamic Republic dismantle its nuclear program, and supporting Israel – but not to the point of escalating tensions too much. It is a complex and tricky game.

The rhetoric employed by Iranian officials and clerics serves domestic and regional purposes, echoing and fueling protests and popular indignation against the United States and Israel – it does not mean Iran will do anything crazy or desperate.

Meanwhile, the US Secret Service itself is being investigated by Homeland Security. The probe will look into its security lapses. Moreover, this Monday, Director Kimberly Cheatle is appearing under subpoena in front of the House Oversight Committee. As I’ve written, the Secret Service is increasingly under suspicion, amid its several contradictions. If security was supposedly “boosted” weeks ago after the alleged Iranian threat, then how come Matthew Crooks was able to shoot Trump? In fact the SS is now admitting they repeatedly denied Trump’s security detail requests for more manpower and resources at the Republican’s events.

The FBI is saying that during the Trump rally the shooter was seen on the roof (with a weapon) no less than 20 minutes before the attempted assassination – and yet nothing was done. Calling attention to “Iranian threats” (something that is nothing new) certainly serves the interest of the Secret Service by deflecting attention. The media is biting it – but it will not be enough, of course. The whole affair is too suspicious and there will be a lot of explaining to be done.

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