Alleged Iranian plot to kill Trump led Secret Service to increase security around him in recent week

The Biden administration obtained intelligence in recent weeks about an Iranian assassination plot against former President Donald Trump, and the information led the Secret Service to ramp up security around the former president, according to three U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter.

But the officials said there was no indication the plot had any link to the assassination attempt on the former president on Saturday carried out by a 20-year-old American at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. U.S. investigators say the evidence so far indicates the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, acted alone.

CNN first reported on the Iranian threat.

After learning of the heightened threat from Iran, the White House National Security Council contacted senior officials at the Secret Service “to be absolutely sure [the Secret Service officials] continued to track the latest reporting,” a national security official told NBC News.

The Trump campaign was informed about the “evolving threat,” and the Secret Service “surged resources and assets for the protection of former President Trump,” the official said. “All of this was in advance of Saturday.”

One U.S. official said that the Iranian regime is continually plotting harm to current and former American officials and military officers. Former national security adviser John Bolton, former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and former Iran envoy Brian Hook all have been provided U.S.-funded security teams, with Congress approving the funding for the added protection.

Those officials were in office when the Trump administration carried out a drone strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian military’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in January 2020.

Adrienne Watson,