Timing of assassination plot information “not surprising”

 

Malin Carlsson/TT

 

Published 11:20

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to visit his American counterpart, President Donald Trump, shortly. The photo was taken at a previous meeting between the two leaders. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP/TT

The fact that Israeli intelligence reports that Iran has considered plans to kill US President Donald Trump are coming at this time is not surprising, according to Middle East analyst Alexander Atarodi.

“It is in Israel’s interest,” he says.

Iran has reportedly recently considered plans to kill the US president, according to Israeli intelligence reports shared with the US and which The Wall Street Journal and CNN have been told about by sources.

And this is not the first time Iranian plans to kill Trump have become known, according to Alexander Atarodi, an independent Middle East analyst.

– If you zoom out a little, it is obvious that he has caused a lot of suffering, including very heavy sanctions against Iran. It has not only affected the regime, but also the people, as a collective punishment, he says.

– He is not particularly desirable with Iranian glasses.

Atarodi states, among other things, that Trump ordered the killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in Iraq in 2020, something for which Iran has promised revenge, according to the WSJ.

“Agreement in a coma”

But the fact that the information is coming out right now is not surprising, according to Atarodi.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to visit his American counterpart in the White House shortly for the first time since the beginning of the year, before the war with Iran broke out. And the upcoming meeting takes place at a time when the already fragile ceasefire between Iran and the US is, if possible, even more fragile.

– The agreement between the US and Iran is in a coma right now and we know that Israel wants to start a war again. It is in Israel's interest, says Alexander Atarodi, an independent Middle East analyst.

Three visits to the White House

Before the US and Israel attacked Iran at the end of February, Netanyahu had visited the White House three times.

- Vice President JD Vance is said to have been against the plans at the time, but Netanyahu presented intelligence and in that way influenced the president's actions, says Alexander Atarodi.

He therefore believes that Israel carefully chose its moment to present the information, with the hope of being able to influence Trump.