By Kristina Cooke and Ted Hesson
WASHINGTON, April 7 (Reuters) - The FBI warned U.S. state and local law enforcement of an elevated threat posed by Iran's government to targets in the United States last month even as the White House sought to downplay the likelihood of an attack, a law enforcement intelligence report reviewed by Reuters shows.
In the March 20 report, the FBI and other federal intelligence agencies cautioned that Iranian government "poses a persistent threat" to U.S. military and government personnel
and buildings, Jewish and Israeli institutions, and Iranian dissidents in the U.S. Despite those warnings, the FBI and National Counterterrorism Center had not identified broad threats to the American public, the report said.
President Donald Trump publicly has minimized the possibility of Iranian attacks on American soil in response to other intelligence assessments in recent months. When asked outside the White House on March 11 whether he was worried about Iran perpetrating an attack in the U.S., Trump said, "No, I'm not."
The Republican president escalated his rhetoric around the conflict this week, saying on Tuesday that "a whole civilization will die tonight" if Iran did not meet his demands but later delaying the threatened assault by two weeks.
The March 20 report - titled "Public Safety Awareness Report" - was issued weeks after Reuters and other news outlets reported that the White House blocked the release of a similarly described intelligence product. At the time, the White House said it was ensuring any information was properly vetted before release.
“The entire Trump administration is working together to protect the homeland and the American people – as they always do," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement. "Media outlets should not attempt to irresponsibly sow fear by reporting on individual law enforcement memorandums that may lack broader context."
The FBI and NCTC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Ali Karimi Magham, a spokesperson for the Iranian mission to the United Nations, declined to comment.
MOST AMERICANS OPPOSE THE WAR, WANT QUICK END
Americans have had negative views of the war, with two-thirds saying the U.S. should end its involvement quickly, a Reuters/Ipsos poll last month found, making the public perception of any threat especially relevant.
The March 20 FBI report was obtained through open records requests by the national security transparency nonprofit Property of the People and shared with Reuters.
The report highlighted "the potential for elevated physical threats" to targets in the U.S. by the Iranian government following the start of the conflict.
"Violent extremists with a variety of ideological backgrounds, including those who oppose the U.S. or Israel, also may see this conflict as a justification for violence," the report stated.
The report said Iranian security services have attempted to kidnap and kill Americans in recent years. While it says most plots in the U.S. have involved firearms, other methods included "stabbings, vehicle rammings, bombings, poisoning, strangling, suffocation, and arson."
Tehran prefers to use operatives with existing U.S. legal status or access to the U.S., the report said. The Iranian government in the past has monitored social media, livestreams and map applications to choose targets and assess security measures, the report said, adding that the government also used hacking tactics such as phishing emails.
The Iranian government "also has attempted to lure victims to other countries geographically closer to Iran, almost certainly for kidnapping and eventual executions," it said.
The report warned law enforcement officials should remain vigilant to possible threats and share concerning information with federal authorities.
(Reporting by Kristina Cooke in San Francisco and Ted Hesson in Washington; Additional reporting by Jana Winter in Washington; Editing by Michael Learmonth and Lincoln Feast)
