The news website Axios has obtained an intelligence memo detailing what it described as Iran’s “advanced” plans to assassinate US officials outside the United States.
Axios reported early Saturday, October 24, that US intelligence agencies had found Iran had significantly increased its efforts to target American officials in the Middle East and beyond.
According to a memo addressed to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday, some of Iran’s alleged assassination plots had reached “advanced stages.”
US officials said the intelligence was one of the reasons the State Department was reducing staffing levels at several embassies across the Middle East amid growing concerns that the regional conflict could expand.
In the one-page memo, Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton warned Rubio that information about Iran’s alleged assassination plots should be shared with a wider group of US personnel.
However, the memo did not identify specific targets, countries outside the Middle East, or the precise nature of the alleged plots. It said the underlying intelligence had previously been shared with senior State Department officials.
