According to a report on August 14, current and former U.S. officials revealed that over the past year, Israel has repeatedly warned America that Iran was plotting to assassinate President Donald Trump. One of those warnings reportedly came just before Trump secretly swapped planes while traveling on Air Force One. Still, U.S. intelligence agencies could not independently verify the information.
Sources say the warnings were passed along to U.S. intelligence bodies, and in some cases, Israeli officials briefed senior White House staff directly. The intelligence included claims that Iran might orchestrate a sniper attack on Trump or recruit individuals to stab him at large public events.
According to the sources, this intelligence first emerged around the time of the 12-day war in June 2025, and it picked up further before Washington’s decision to launch military action against Iran in February of this year.
The most detailed warning came ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara in July. A U.S. official and another person familiar with the matter said Israeli officials told the White House they had intelligence suggesting Iran could try to kill Trump—possibly even using a shoulder-fired missile while Trump was aboard Air Force One en route to the summit.
The U.S. intelligence community has long assessed that Iran wants revenge for Trump’s 2020 decision to kill Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani. But American officials say that since early last year, the CIA has been unable to confirm some of the specific threats against Trump’s life that Israeli intelligence has provided.
In the NATO summit case, a Turkish official said Turkish intelligence also found no evidence to back up Israel’s claims about threats to Trump, and that assessment was shared with the Americans.
Despite the lack of verification, White House officials and the U.S. Secret Service took precautions to reduce risk. That included a rare deception operation during Trump’s trip to Turkey: when he left, he was discreetly moved from Air Force One to another aircraft.
The report notes that America has long relied heavily on Israeli intelligence regarding Middle East matters, especially when it comes to Iran. This episode highlights how Israeli intelligence is shaping the Trump administration’s decisions on Iran amid tense U.S.-Iran relations, while also reflecting broader disagreements between U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies over the overall threat posed by Iran.
Two former U.S. officials said Israeli intelligence on Iran is usually shared through official channels with the CIA or the National Security Agency, after which American analysts review it.
U.S. intelligence agencies often cannot independently verify information provided by Israel, but officials say they weigh it against other data to judge its credibility and accuracy.
A former U.S. official and another person familiar with the matter said that during America’s two military campaigns against Iran, the CIA repeatedly assessed that Israeli intelligence about Iranian threats—including the alleged plot to assassinate Trump—was of “low credibility.”
It’s unclear how widely those assessments were distributed within the Trump administration.
Two former U.S. officials also told the news agency that over the past year, several senior Israeli officials and representatives repeatedly called the White House, even directly entering the White House Situation Room to brief top Trump administration officials on threats from Iran.
An Israeli embassy spokesperson denied that Israel uses intelligence to influence U.S. policy on Iran.
The spokesperson said: “Those who claim Israel tries to influence American policy through so-called intelligence sharing would, if it suited their own agenda, equally accuse Israel of withholding critical information.”
The White House and the CIA both declined to comment.