Intelligence report: Iran is planning to assassinate US 's ambassador

The US political website Politico quoted a government official familiar with the case and another official who had access to the information that the Iranian regime had planned to try to assassinate Marx since the spring.

He explained that US officials were aware of a general threat against the ambassador, but the intelligence information about the threat to which she is exposed to has become more specific in recent weeks.

The US government official indicated that the Iranian embassy in Pretoria was involved in the plot.

Marx (66 years old) was sworn in as the US ambassador to South Africa last October, as she is close to the US President and has been a friendship for more than two decades.

The site stated that intelligence is not completely sure why the Iranians targeted Marx, but the US government official suggested the possibility that the Iranians took her long friendship with Trump into account.

He noted that the Iranian government also runs clandestine networks in South Africa, and has had a foothold there for decades, which makes Marx an easier target than US diplomats in other parts of the world.

Politico pointed out that the Tehran regime has a black record of carrying out assassinations outside the borders of their country, as well as taking hostages, since its seizure of power in the late 1970s, but in recent decades, Iran has generally avoided targeting US diplomats directly.

Tensions escalated between Washington and Tehran following the killing of the former commander of the Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, in early January in a US raid near Baghdad airport.

T/S

ANHA