Iran Dismisses Allegation of Attempt to Assassinate US Envoy to South Africa

• 09.14.2020, 15:28
•  America,  Region,  Near East,  World

Vahid Salemi,AP

Iran denied a report that it’s plotting to assassinate the U.S. ambassador to South Africa, and the government in Pretoria said it’s unaware of any such threat, Bloomberg reports.

Politico reported on Sunday that Iran is considering an attempt to assassinate U.S. Ambassador Lana Marks to avenge the U.S.’s killing of top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani earlier this year. Intelligence about the alleged threat, which first surfaced in the spring, has become more specific in recent weeks, the news website said, citing an unidentified U.S. government official.

“Such baseless claims are part of the Trump administration’s intelligence campaign against Iran,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said Monday in a statement.

A spokesman for South Africa’s Foreign Ministry said the U.S. official’s allegation took Pretoria by surprise.