(Ken Silva, Headline USA) National Intelligence Director Jay Clayton wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday, warning him that Iran is planning to target U.S. citizens in the Middle East and other countries.
“Specifically, through various channels, we have received intelligence that Iran has substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel. The lethal plotting efforts by the Iranians against U.S. citizens have reached advanced stages in both the Middle East and certain other countries,” Clayton said in his unclassified memo to Rubio, which was obtained by Axios.
National Intelligence Director Jay Clayton told Marco Rubio yesterday that Iran has "substantially increased efforts to target US personnel" in the Middle East and other countries. "Lethal plotting efforts" have reached "advanced stages," he said.
The memo was published last… pic.twitter.com/KIigMQa3K3
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) October 24, 2026
Clayton’s memo comes about three months after President Donald Trump made the last-minute decision to secretly switch airplanes when leaving a NATO summit in Turkey earlier this month due to a purported assassination threat coming from Iranian proxy forces. According to reports, the Iranian proxy forces had plans to shoot down Air Force One as it was departing.
However, intelligence officials later expressed doubts that the threat against Trump in Turkey was serious. According to the Middle East Eye, Turkish officials suspected Israel fabricated the intelligence to derail diplomacy between the U.S. and Iran. The Washington Post also reported that the CIA made a similar assessment of the matter, viewing the Israeli intelligence as “low confidence.” The New York Times, too, reported that some U.S. officials believe that the Israeli intelligence was intended to convince Trump to escalate his war against Iran.
Meanwhile, no arrests have been made in Turkey, a NATO ally, in connection to this supposed Trump assassination plot. Nor have any witnesses or other documentation emerged.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
