Iran's security chief denies report of assassination plot against Trump's son Barron

Iran's Security Chief Mohsen Rezaei has denied a report about a potential plot to assassinate US President Donald Trump's youngest son, Barron Trump, calling it a lie in an interview broadcast by Lebanon's Al Manar TV on Thursday, according to Reuters.

The denial came two days after the US Secret Service said on Tuesday that it was aware of a video broadcast by Iranian state television discussing a potential plot to assassinate Barron Trump.

Also read: Iran sets conditions for reopening Strait of Hormuz, seeks end to war


In the same interview, Rezaei, who heads Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said the issue of the Strait of Hormuz was tied to ending the wider regional war, including conflicts in Lebanon and Gaza. He said mediators had asked Tehran to set out its conditions for reopening the strait, and that Iran was preparing a list of such conditions.

Rezaei said Iran had reached an agreement with Oman on a shipping corridor through the strait, with sections of the route running through Omani waters and sections through Iranian waters. He said ships would use a designated central channel if the United States met Iran's conditions.

The Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global energy shipments, has been at the centre of the standoff between Iran and the United States since the outbreak of the wider conflict in February. Before the war began, the strait carried roughly one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments; traffic through the waterway has largely halted since then.

A senior source said on Wednesday that Iran and Oman were still finalising details of an agreement on the waterway, after Iran's Revolutionary Guards said the two countries had agreed on how to share control of the strait and its revenues. A Guards spokesperson has said Iran will not allow the strait to reopen unless Washington lifts what Tehran describes as a blockade of Iranian ports, pays compensation, and removes sanctions.

Also read: US to send new aircraft carrier to Middle East as Iran war drags on

Ceasefire agreements announced by Washington and Tehran in April and June had been intended to restore maritime traffic through the strait, but neither held.

This is not the first time Iran has denied involvement in an alleged plot against Trump. Iran's Foreign Ministry had earlier dismissed a US Department of Justice report alleging a separate plot to assassinate Trump before he took office, calling the allegations "completely baseless" and part of what it termed a "malicious conspiracy" against Iran

(With inputs from Reuters)