Mossad warned CIA of Iranian drone plot targeting Trump and top officials

Israel's foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad, gave the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) specific intelligence indicating that Iran intends to attack President Donald Trump and senior members of his administration, the Israeli daily Israel Hayom reported, citing senior Israeli and American officials. According to the newspaper's headline, the alleged plan involves the use of drones.

Israel Hayom said the intelligence has contributed to a sharp fall in recent days in the prospects for any agreement between Washington and Tehran, including a preliminary one. The Hebrew-language outlet News.co.il, relaying the Israel Hayom report, added that the material was handed over after American intelligence agencies asked the Mossad to verify it, and that in response to the threats senior US officials were relocated to secure facilities, the president's public appearances were reduced and special protective measures were put in place.

What the report says, and who says it

Every element of this story traces back to a single newspaper. Israel Hayom published the account and attributed it to senior officials in both countries whom it did not name. News.co.il, a Hebrew-language news service that posts on the Telegram messaging platform, credited Israel Hayom as its source rather than presenting independent reporting of its own. Two organisations have therefore carried the story, but they describe one piece of reporting, not two separate confirmations.

The two versions also frame the sequence of events slightly differently. The Israel Hayom summary presents the Mossad as the party that supplied the intelligence to the CIA. The News.co.il version says the transfer came after US intelligence agencies had asked the Mossad to verify information, which suggests the Americans may already have held some material of their own and sought Israeli corroboration. Neither version spells out which side first detected the alleged plan.

The Mossad and the CIA

The Mossad is Israel's national intelligence agency responsible for operations and intelligence gathering outside the country. It reports directly to the prime minister. The CIA is its American counterpart for foreign intelligence. The two agencies have a long record of cooperation, and Iran, which Israel regards as its principal adversary, is one of the main subjects on which they share information.

Israel Hayom, one of Israel's most widely read newspapers, is distributed free of charge and publishes in Hebrew with an English-language website. The report appeared first on its Hebrew platforms, according to News.co.il, which labelled it a first publication.

Why it matters for US-Iran diplomacy

The most consequential claim in the report concerns diplomacy rather than security arrangements. According to Israel Hayom, the chances of Washington and Tehran reaching even an initial understanding have dropped considerably in recent days, and the intelligence about the alleged plot is part of the reason. The newspaper did not, in the material available, describe the state of any talks, who is taking part in them or what issues remain open.

For readers following Israel's security position, the report fits a broader pattern in which Israel has sought to influence American policy toward Iran, often by sharing intelligence about Iranian intentions. Israeli governments have consistently opposed agreements with Tehran that they see as insufficient, and an account that ties a slowdown in diplomacy to Israeli-supplied intelligence will be read in that light. The reports themselves do not attribute any motive to the Mossad or to the officials who spoke to the newspaper.

The security measures described

According to the account carried by News.co.il, the response in Washington included moving senior officials to protected locations and cutting back on the president's public schedule. The report did not name which officials were moved, where they were taken, for how long, or which public events were cancelled or altered. It described the additional protective steps only as special measures, without further detail.

What the reports do not say

• No US government body, including the White House, the CIA or the Secret Service, is quoted confirming or denying the account.
• No response from Iran has been reported.
• The Mossad and the Israeli prime minister's office are not quoted on the record.
• The reports give no detail about the alleged plan itself: when or where an attack was supposedly intended, who would carry it out, or how drones would be used.
• It is not stated which officials were moved to secure facilities, or whether those arrangements remain in place.
• The extent to which the intelligence, rather than other factors, has affected the prospects of a US-Iran agreement is not explained.