Masoud Pezeshkian
Masoud PezeshkianReuters/Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto

Iran "never" planned to assassinate Donald Trump during the US election campaign last year and will not in the future, President Masoud Pezeshkian stated in an interview with NBC News on Tuesday.

In early November, days before the election, the US Justice Department announced federal charges against three people in a thwarted Iranian plot to kill Trump.

“This is another one of those schemes that Israel and other countries are designing to promote Iranophobia. ... Iran has never attempted to nor does it plan to assassinate anyone. At least as far as I know,” Pezeshkian insisted in the NBC News interview.

The interviewer, Lester Holt, sought clarification, asking, “You’re saying there was never an Iranian plot to kill Donald Trump?” Pezeshkian replied firmly, “None whatsoever.”

Pressed on whether Iran could promise not to target Trump, Pezeshkian reiterated, “We have never attempted this to begin with and we never will.”

The interview also dealt with the tensions between the US and Iran since Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal, reinstated sanctions, and imposed new ones. In response, Iran has taken many steps to scale back its compliance with the 2015 deal.

These steps include banning UN nuclear inspectors from the country as well as expanding uranium enrichment capabilities.

Pezeshkian criticized the US for not honoring past commitments, saying, “The problem we have is not in dialogue. It’s in the commitments that arise from talk and dialogue that we’ll have to commit to.”

He added, “We have this doubt that, no matter how much we engage in conversation and dialogue, they are trying to topple the government, not solve the problems.”

The Iranian President also dismissed claims that Tehran is pursuing nuclear weapons, calling them “fabricated pretexts.”

Pezeshkian downplayed regional challenges to Iran’s influence, asserting that the country remains “more coherent, more robust,” with increased internal participation and security.

Amid the efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Pezeshkian claimed Iran is committed to promoting peace in the region, telling NBC News, “We do whatever we can in order for peace to prevail in the region.”