By Euronews Persian
Published on
The US Secret Service has confirmed it is conducting a probe into a video aired by Iranian state media that appears to threaten the life of Barron Trump, President Donald Trump’s youngest son.
“The US Secret Service is aware of the video and investigates anything that can be perceived as a threat toward our protectees,” Secret Service spokesman Nate Herring said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Out of concern for operational security, we do not discuss matters of protective intelligence,” Herring added.
Earlier this week, Iranian state television broadcast a video purporting to track Barron Trump’s movements and claiming a $10 million (€8.5m) bounty has been placed on him.
The footage, released by IRGC-affiliated media and broadcast on Channel 3 of Iranian state television, was titled “Where and how should we kill Barron Trump?”
It claimed to show the location of his university, his escort vehicles and the positioning of his Secret Service detail, alleging his movements have been “fully monitored”.
The video further alleged that “a girl” had found a way past the Secret Service’s protection, sat with Barron Trump, 20, in a private meeting and passed information to the programme’s makers.
Euronews could not independently verify the claim about the bounty at the time of publication.
The broadcast follows a similar video released by the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency in July, titled “Where and how is Melania Trump accessible?”, which detailed the US First Lady’s movements in New York and alleged vulnerabilities in her security.
In late May, the New York Post reported on an alleged plot targeting the US president’s daughter Ivanka Trump.
On Tuesday, the Secret Service confirmed that three non-law-enforcement officials had been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into potential misconduct by the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
US media reported that one of the three was Anthony Guglielmi, the agency’s communications director, alongside two other officials in media-related positions and that the suspension was connected to a criminal investigation into classified information leaked to the media.
The Secret Service did not confirm these reports, and the actual reason for the suspensions had not been officially disclosed at the time of publication.
Since the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran that started the war on 28 February, Iranian state-run media have on several occasions published material threatening Trump and members of his family.
An agency under pressure
The Secret Service has faced sustained scrutiny as Trump has been the target of at least three assassination plots since taking office.
The most public incident took place in April, when an armed man breached security at the Washington Hilton hotel during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, which Trump was attending.
The agency has also faced scrutiny over the US president’s departure from the recent NATO summit in Turkey, following media reports that Trump was moved from Air Force One to a separate aircraft without public disclosure, as the Secret Service and the US military believed he could be the target of an Iranian assassination attempt.
Trump only confirmed he slipped away after media reports that he had taken part in the elaborate ruse in which some of his staff, Secret Service and journalists flew on the old model Air Force One while he was snuck onto an alternate military aircraft to get out of Turkey.
Last month, the Secret Service confirmed that an agent on JD Vance’s security detail was under investigation over the alleged disclosure of sensitive information.
The inquiry followed a July report by NBC News Now about dissatisfaction among some agents over last-minute travel requests made by Vance and his family. The agency described it as both an administrative investigation and a potential criminal inquiry.
Additional sources • AP