Israel has warned U.S. officials about a new Iranian plot to assassinate President Donald Trump, according to reports that place the latest threat inside Tehran’s yearslong revenge campaign.
The Wall Street Journal broke the report, and CNN later matched it to its own sourcing.
Israel told the United States that Iran had developed a new plot targeting Trump, according to the reports, adding to threats that have followed him since the January 2020 U.S. airstrike that eliminated Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani.
CNN’s sources described two tracks, an Israeli warning passed to Washington this week and a stream of Iran-related threats U.S. agencies were already monitoring.
The Israeli intelligence reportedly pointed to a targeted assassination threat than had been publicly known, though the details were not disclosed.
🚨👀 Trump on Iranian leadership: 'These are evil, sick people, and we have to rid their cancer'
The US president also claimed that Iran is actively targeting him for assassination.
"They want to take out the US leader, me. I'm on every list. I saw things this morning. I'm… pic.twitter.com/d3txGopVTR
— Paddystinian (@Paddystinian) July 8, 2026
Rather than address the intelligence directly, the White House steered reporters to Trump’s comments from Wednesday.
“They want to take out the U.S. leader — me,” the president stated. “I’m on every list. I saw this morning, I’m on every single one of their lists. And so far, I guess I’ve been a little bit lucky, but maybe that doesn’t last very long.”
Trump also called Iran’s leaders “evil, sick people” and said the regime posed a growing danger that had to be stopped.
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Tehran has continued to threaten retaliation over Soleimani’s death, with anti-Trump threats and violent messaging from Iranian officials and supporters persisting in the years since.
At recent ceremonies held after the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, crowds were seen calling for Trump’s death, with displays at the events carrying explicit threats against the president.
Federal prosecutors have also pursued cases involving alleged Iranian-backed efforts to kill former members of Trump’s team, with John Bolton and Mike Pompeo among the high-profile figures identified as targets.
Huge crowds in Mashhad ahead of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s burial held up a large red banner reading, “We will kill Trump.”
Thursday’s burial at the country’s holiest shrine marks the culmination of a week of mass funeral processions and rallies. pic.twitter.com/21PabC9yEj
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) July 9, 2026
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used Newsmax’s “The Record With Greta Van Susteren” to reject the idea of a break with Trump, even as he conceded that the two leaders do not see every foreign-policy question the same way.
“He said it couldn’t be better,” Netanyahu said, pointing to how Trump had characterized the strength of their ties. “Friends can have agreements and disagreements.”
The clearest point of friction is Turkey, where Trump has signaled openness to an F-35 sale and sanctions relief, despite Israeli concerns.
“I think this is not a good thing,” Netanyahu noted.
אני ממשיך בסבב ההסברה הישראלית בעולם – צפו בראיון שלי לרשת ניוזמקס בארה״ב >> pic.twitter.com/j9M1eZCbJv
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) July 8, 2026
Netanyahu said he raised his concerns with Trump privately instead of airing the dispute through public criticism.
“What I’m telling you, I say to my friend, Donald Trump, the president of the United States, in private conversations. It’s not that I’m hiding it,” he commented.
Netanyahu framed the disagreement as proof that the relationship could withstand pressure. “This is a real friendship, a real alliance,” he added.
He described Israel and the United States as democratic societies where arguments do not have to fracture the partnership.
“We’re a robust democracy, too,” Netanyahu said about his country. “I never lose sight of the fact that it is the ability to have disagreements that marks a free country.”
Drawing a distinction between the two allies and countries such as Iran and Turkey, Netanyahu argued that open debate separates free nations from authoritarian ones.
“That’s not the American way, and it’s not the Israeli way,” he added. “Thank God we have our two democracies to continue the tradition of freedom and open discourse.”
That threat backdrop made Trump’s flight out of Turkey harder to treat as routine.
Instead of using the retrofitted Qatari aircraft, Trump left on the older Air Force One, while the White House maintained that the newer jet carried advanced protections.
On X, journalist Andrew Feinberg pointed to the aircraft’s defenses, arguing the “most likely reason” was that the former Air Force One “doesn’t have the self-defense capabilities needed when flying from Turkey while in a shooting war with Iran.”
The most likely reason for this is that the “new” ex-Qatari jet doesn’t have the self-defense capabilities needed when flying from Turkey while in a shooting war with Iran.
The actual VC-25 aircraft does have those capabilities. pic.twitter.com/OoHxw1JXWy
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) July 8, 2026
Other accounts later put the Secret Service at the center of the decision, saying agents urged Trump to use the older jet as a precaution, while Trump told reporters the change was unrelated to security.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung defended the Qatari Boeing 747 as “a state of the art aircraft” with “high-level security protocols,” while saying the administration uses “every tool at our disposal, including distraction and misdirection,” to protect Trump.
Asked what security concern caused the plane change, Trump rejected the premise.
“We sent it a little early so the base could see the plane,” he told a journalist.
Reporter: What was the security concern that cause us to change planes?
Trump: We sent it a little early so the base could see the plane.
Reporter: Do you know why they had us close our window blinds?
Trump: Because you’re on a dangerous flight. pic.twitter.com/NLgDevEcqW
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 9, 2026
A reporter then asked why passengers had been told to close their window shades.
“Because you’re on a dangerous flight,” Trump replied.
Trump posted on Truth Social that the newer jet had been flown in advance to RAF Mildenhall, the American military installation in Suffolk, England, giving U.S. personnel there a chance to view the aircraft before it was used for his return trip to Washington.
