US Secret Service investigates Iranian video threatening Barron Trump

The US Secret Service has confirmed it is investigating a video broadcast this week by Iranian state television that appears to threaten the life of Barron Trump, the youngest son of President Donald Trump. Agency spokesman Nate Herring said in a Tuesday statement that the Secret Service examines anything that could be perceived as a threat to those it protects, while declining to elaborate for operational security reasons.

What the video shows

The footage, titled with a question about where and how to kill Barron Trump, was released by media linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and aired on Channel 3 of Iranian state television. It claims to reveal the location of the 20-year-old's university, the vehicles used to transport him, and the positioning of his Secret Service detail, alongside a claim that a $10 million (roughly €8.5 million) bounty has been placed on him. The video further alleges that a woman managed to bypass security, met privately with Barron Trump, and passed information to the programme's producers. Euronews was unable to independently verify the bounty claim.

Part of a pattern

In July, the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency released a similar video concerning First Lady Melania Trump's movements and security vulnerabilities in New York, and in May reports emerged of an alleged plot against the president's daughter, Ivanka Trump. Iranian state media have repeatedly published threatening material about Trump and his family since the death of the country's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes that began the war in February.

Separately on Tuesday, the Secret Service confirmed three non-law-enforcement officials had been placed on administrative leave amid a misconduct investigation by its Office of Professional Responsibility, with US media identifying the agency's communications director among them; the Secret Service has not confirmed these details. The agency has faced heightened scrutiny in recent months, including a security breach at the Washington Hilton in April and an undisclosed manoeuvre to move Trump to a separate aircraft during his departure from a NATO summit in Turkey.