Iran never plotted to kill Donald Trump, president says

Washington: Iran never plotted to kill Republican US President-elect Donald Trump, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in an NBC News interview on Tuesday, denying past claims from Trump and the US 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 on NBC News 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 US drone strike.