‘No plans to assassinate Donald Trump’: Iran pens message to US govt

Iran has denied plans to assassinate US President elect Donald Trump, weeks after American authorities warned that it would be considered an ‘act of war’. Officials from Tehran also met with Trump advisor and billionaire businessman Elon Musk this week — one in a series of steps seemingly intended to ease tensions with the former POTUS.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Iran shared a written message with the Joe Biden government last month to indicate that it would not try to kill Trump. The message was sent via Swiss diplomats on October 14 in response to an earlier warning from the US.
The Iranian UN mission however told American publications that it does not issue public statements about “official messages exchanged between the two countries”.
Tehran has been vehemently opposed to a second Trump term and see him as more likely to increase tensions between the two countries. The President-elect had ended a nuclear deal with Iran, reimposed sanctions and ordered the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani during his previous term in office. 
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (who has final say on all matters of state) has also repeatedly expressed his own distaste for Trump. Newly appointed reformist president Masoud Pezeshkian has however kept the door open to talks with Trump to seek relief from international sanctions.
The Justice Department this month revealed an Iranian murder-for-hire plot to kill Trump, charging a man who said he had been tasked by an Iranian government official in September with planning Trump’s assassination. The Iranian foreign ministry has rejected the report. 
The plot was part of what federal officials have described as ongoing efforts by Iran to target US government officials — including Trump — on US soil. Last summer, the Justice Department charged a Pakistani man with ties to Iran in a murder-for-hire plot targeting American officials.
(With inputs from agencies)