EXCLUSIVE: Iran VP denies plot to kill Trump
September 26, 2024
VIDEOSGZERO World with Ian BremmerQuick TakePUPPET REGIMEIan ExplainsGZERO ReportsAsk IanGlobal Stage
Site Navigation
Search
Human content,
AI powered search.
Latest Stories
Sign up for GZERO Daily.
Get our latest updates and insights delivered to your inbox.
Global Stage LIVE from United Nations WATCH REPLAY
GZERO World Clips
Highlights from the GZERO World with Ian Bremmer weekly television show.
Donald Trump on Wednesday accused Iran of being behind plots to kill him.
Citing information reportedly given to him a day earlier by US intelligence, he said, “If I were the president, I would inform the threatening country, in this case, Iran, that if you do anything to harm this person, we are going to blow your largest cities and the country itself to smithereens. We're going to blow it to smithereens.”
There have, of course, been two known plots to kill Trump, one in July and one earlier this month.
But what do Iran’s leaders have to say about the matter?
“We don’t send people to assassinate people,” Iran’s Vice President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif told GZERO Media President Ian Bremmer on Wednesday during an interview for our nationally televised program GZERO World.
“I think that’s a campaign ploy in order to get former President Trump out of the not-so-favorable situation he’s in in the elections,” he said.
He also maintained that Iran doesn’t intervene in the internal affairs of other countries.
“It’s not for me to decide who is going to win in the American elections. That’s for the American people to decide. And Iran doesn’t have a preference in this election,” Zarif said.
Pressed by Bremmer about allegations that Iran was behind recent efforts to hack into US presidential campaigns, Zarif conceded that while the attacks may have originated from within the Islamic Republic, it was “hackers operating in Iran,” but “not on behalf of Iran.”
“We are ourselves victims of hacking,” he said.
Watch the clip here, and tune in next week for Ian Bremmer’s full interview with Zarif in the next episode of GZERO World, airing on PBS stations around the country. Check local listings.
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).
Keep reading...Show less
More from GZERO World Clips
About the Show
Every week on GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, Ian explains the key global stories of the moment, sits down for an in-depth conversation with the newsmakers and thought leaders shaping our world.
Watch GZERO World on US public television and on GZERO's YouTube channel. GZERO WORLD with Ian Bremmer is a local public television program presented by THIRTEEN PBS.
Funding for GZERO World is provided by:
Koo and Patricia YuenSusan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Foundation
Powering what's next
Energy used to be a predictable cost. Now it's a constraint on growth, and businesses are rethinking how they plan and build.
GZERO Media’s Tony Maciulis sat down with Susan Uthayakumar, Chief Energy and Sustainability Officer at Prologis, to discuss how rising power demand from automation, AI and fleet electrification is changing where and how companies build. Together, they examine the role real estate plays in energy infrastructure, what effective public-private partnerships look like, and how on-site power generation can support communities in crisis.
GZERO Series
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer
Puppet Regime
Quick Take
ask ian
Ian Explains
GZERO Reports
GZERO Europe
The Debrief
© 2026 GZERO Media. All Rights Reserved | A Eurasia Group company.
GZERO Daily: our free newsletter about global politics
Keep up with what’s going on around the world - and why it matters.