US Officials Fear Israel Shared Partial Intelligence on Iran Assassination Plot to Push Escalation

The Wall Street Journal reported on July 9 that Israel told the United States it detected a fresh Iranian plot to assassinate President Trump. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee confirmed on July 12 that Israeli intelligence had warned the White House about a "very specific" threat 1. Officials briefed on the matter told the Journal that Washington fears Israel shared only partial intelligence, partly to push the US toward full-scale war with Iran; two US officials separately told Israel's Channel 12 that the intelligence amounted to general dialogue among Iranian officials about assassinating Trump rather than a specific plot, and that Israel had shared similar general warnings multiple times over the past year, partly to bolster the Netanyahu-Trump relationship 1 2. Israel's embassy denied that characterization, saying intelligence was shared "as part of the two nations' partnership, without ulterior motive" 2. Trump has offered a more skeptical account, telling the New York Post "Israel came up with nothing." Citing the threat, the Secret Service, White House Military Office and national security officials determined Trump's newer Qatar-donated Air Force One lacked sufficient defensive protection, prompting him to fly the older presidential aircraft from the NATO summit in Turkey to Britain before switching back for the return to Washington 2.