MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Now to Iran, where a video released by state media appears to threaten the life of President Trump's youngest son. NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas reports.
RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE: The nearly three-minute video was aired by the Islamic Republic of Iran broadcasting over the weekend. It begins with a graphic that shows dripping red letters and the words, quote, "where to kill Barron Trump."
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
LUCAS: The video mentions several locations where the narrator says Barron Trump allegedly spends his time, including Trump Tower in Manhattan and New York University's campus in Washington, D.C.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
LUCAS: Penetrating the inner circle of people around Barron and hiring them does not require a complex operation, the narrator says. As the video ends, the narrator asks how many people are waiting to receive, quote, "our $10 million prize," end quote, seeming to suggest a bounty is on offer. In a statement provided to NPR, Secret Service spokesman Nate Herring says the agency is aware of the video and investigates anything that can be perceived as a threat toward its protectees.
But, he said, due to operational security, it does not discuss matters of protective intelligence. The U.S.-Israeli war against Iran began in late February. In the opening salvo of the conflict, the United States and Israel killed Iran's supreme leader, as well as several of his family members. Many other senior Iranian government figures also have been killed in targeted strikes. Here's Trump speaking about it in March.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We killed all their leadership. And then they met to choose new leaders and we killed all of them.
LUCAS: Iran, for its part, has long tried to target American officials on U.S. soil. For years it has threatened to kill President Trump and other senior officials to avenge the killing of a top Iranian general during Trump's first term, although nothing has come of those threats. The Justice Department meanwhile says it has foiled Iranian murder-for-hire plots that were targeting dissidents living in the United States.
Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington.
(SOUNDBITE OF ANDREW MARLIN'S "FIREFLIES AND FAIRYDUST") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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