On July 14, former president Donald Trump was shot and injured in an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Although it is still unclear whether the shooter acted alone or as part of an organized effort, it is important to note that the Islamic regime in Iran is actively trying to assassinate US citizens, including the former president and several of his senior advisers, on American soil.
To compel the regime to renounce terrorism or at least dissuade them from pursuing Americans or others on US soil, the US government must take firm and forceful action against those who are truly responsible for these acts of terror, up to and including the regime’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
Three days after the shooting incident in Butler, US intelligence disclosed that it had obtained information in recent weeks on a plot by Iran to try to assassinate Trump, a development that reportedly led to the Secret Service increasing security around the former president.
As of now, it is unclear whether Iran was directly behind this particular assassination attempt. However, regime officials, including Khamenei, the commander in chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the chief of the Quds Force (IRGC-QF – the foreign operations arm of the Guard Corps), and the commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force (IRGC-AF), have indicated their steadfast commitment to assassinate the former president as well as several other US officials, including John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, his aide Brian Hook and other US citizens. This is in retaliation for the American drone strike that killed former IRGC-QF chief Qasem Soleimani on January 3, 2020.
Khamenei vows revenge
Ayatollah Khamenei has stated that “revenge against Soleimani’s killers is certain” and threatened Trump with “punishment in this world.” Hossein Salami, the IRGC commander in chief, declared that Americans should rest assured that his force will take revenge against them in response to the elimination of Soleimani. According to Salami, the IRGC’s “revenge against Trump… and those who were directly and indirectly involved [in the elimination of Soleimani] is definite, serious, and real.”
Similarly, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the IRGC-AF, has stated that his force aims to kill Trump, Pompeo, former commander of the US Central Command Gen. Frank McKenzie, and others involved in the killing of Soleimani.
The Islamic Consultative Assembly (Iranian Majlis) approved a plan for “Severe Revenge” against the United States, obliging the government to provide the IRGC-QF with an additional 200 million euros to carry out the mission.
These threats are not just rhetorical. According to various reliable sources, including a report by the Department of Justice, there has been a significant increase in the frequency and severity of terrorist actions carried out by the Iranian regime on American soil since 2020.
In September 2020, US intelligence reported that the Iranian regime attempted to assassinate Lana Marks, the US ambassador to South Africa. In August 2022, Tehran actively plotted to kill John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, and Brian Hook – all of whom served in the Trump administration. Regime officials and senior commanders of the IRGC have made no attempt to conceal their desire to target these officials.
An unsealed indictment on January 27, 2023, revealed that Tehran had conspired with a transnational criminal element to assassinate Masih Alinejad, a well-known Iranian-American journalist and human rights activist who had been vocal about the regime’s human rights violations.
Lengthy history of assassinating and abducting dissidents
Even before Soleimani’s elimination, the Islamic Republic had a significant history of assassinating and abducting dissidents and critics residing in the United States. The regime has made numerous other attempts to carry out assassinations of both US and foreign citizens on American soil.
In 2009, the IRGC-QF enlisted a Californian hit man to assassinate Jamshid Sharmahd, a vocal critic of the regime. In 2011, it tried to assassinate Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi ambassador to the US, while he was dining at Cafe Milano, a high-end restaurant in Georgetown. The plot also involved plans to bomb the Israeli Embassy in Washington.
On August 20, 2018, two Iranian operatives secretly monitored Israeli and Jewish institutions in the United States and gathered information about US citizens and nationals who were members of an Iranian opposition group. And in July 2021, the regime devised a plan to abduct Masih Alinejad from her home in Brooklyn and take her to Venezuela, with the ultimate goal of bringing her back to Iran.
The regime in Tehran was also linked to an attack on Salman Rushdie, the British author of The Satanic Verses who resides in the United States. According to early reports, the perpetrator was an admirer of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, who evidently acted in response to his 1989 fatwa (decree), which condemned Rushdie to death for blasphemy in that novel. The Iranian regime even rewarded the would-be assassin Hadi Matar with a 1,000-square-meter piece of valuable land for his efforts.
However, the absence of a strong response to these actions over the past three years has only emboldened the regime. The Biden administration has issued intermittent warnings to Iran, threatening severe repercussions. Nevertheless, the regime has persisted with its malevolent activities, as neither Khamenei nor his office – responsible for terror plots – have ever faced any punitive actions.
AS THE head of the regime’s power structure, the ayatollah holds sway over the country’s policies and provides overall direction. In his role as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, he is responsible for appointing the chief of the IRGC and the Minister of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), and he maintains direct control over all intelligence and security activities outside the country. The heads of these organizations receive orders from and report directly to him, and they never initiate any foreign operations without his explicit authorization.
Khamenei, who held the position of president at the time, was involved in ordering the 1983 suicide bombing of American and French military barracks in Beirut, which caused the death of 241 US and 58 French military personnel. The attack was orchestrated by Hezbollah, but it’s widely acknowledged that it was planned and funded by the Iranian regime.
US blood on his hands
He was the one who gave the order for the 1996 attack on the Khobar Towers complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, resulting in the killing of 19 US airmen. Under the direct control of Ayatollah Khamenei, the IRGC-QF operates a clandestine network of assassins responsible for executing missions against targets in the West. The agents of this network are sent overseas by Khamenei’s orders.
The regime’s unwavering commitment to continuing their malevolent activities within the United States is undeniable. Resolute and robust measures, including sanctions on Khamenei and his office, are required to discourage the regime from continuing its terrorist activities.
The US government should also employ the full force of its diplomatic and economic might to persuade European allies to add the IRGC to their lists of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). Continued failure to act decisively will only invite further aggression from the Islamic Republic.
Those who argue that sanctioning the ayatollah is too provocative should consider what the appropriate response would be if the regime were to kill a former US official or other US citizens.
The writer is a senior fellow at the Philos Project.