Biden Admin: Former Trump Iran Envoy Facing ‘Serious and Credible’ Threats

[Geee]

Free Beacon

The Trump administration's Iran envoy is facing "serious and credible" threats to his safety, according to a non-public assessment produced this month by the State Department and viewed by the Washington Free Beacon. The determination was delivered to Congress amid a campaign of public death threats by Iran aimed at former president Donald Trump and top administration officials.

The State Department in an unclassified but non-public assessment provided to Congress on Jan. 11 determined that a "specific threat persists with respect to former special representative [for Iran] Brian Hook," who helmed the Trump administration's maximum pressure campaign on Tehran and was instrumental in the assassination of Iranian terror leader Qassem Soleimani. The document does not name the actors behind the threats, describing them only as a "foreign power or the agent of a foreign power."Iran, however, has repeatedly threatened to kill Trump administration officials, including Hook, as payback for the 2020 drone strike on Soleimani. The State Department determination indicates that Hook has been under a "serious and credible" threat since at least January 2021, when Trump and former secretary of state Mike Pompeo were still in office. The Biden State Department determined on three separate occasions, most recently November 2021, that the threats persist, according to the notification.

The State Department's latest assessment comes amid public comments by top Iranian leaders that threaten the lives of Trump and senior members of his administration. Iranian government accounts on Twitter and other social media sites promised multiple times this month to assassinate Trump, with the regime issuing an official video that depicts a drone strike on the former president. The Biden administration says it takes these threats seriously and will do everything it can to protect former and current officials.