Last Friday, when the US Justice Department presented details of a failed Iranian conspiracy to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump before the presidential election, my initial, spontaneous reaction was: "What timing!"
Yes, the timing of the announcement is politically explosive, especially with Trump winning the presidential election by a landslide amid a red wave that granted him a historic mandate.
To understand why the timing is so crucial, we need look no further than yesterday’s Washington Post article about Silicon Valley executives’ position on Trump's re-election.
"Silicon Valley protested Trump in 2016, and now wants to work with him," the headline reads. "Donald Trump’s first White House win triggered public outcry from tech executives and employees but this week, industry leaders were friendlier," reads the subheading.
These business leaders contribute to shaping public opinion through social media and the internet in general, and they are also influential technological and economic actors. However, today they are focused on their interests and do not want to repeat the mistakes of 2016 when Trump won the first term.
These influential American companies have now chosen not to clash with the president-elect. Imagine, then, the stance of foreign countries, specifically Iran, which denied the claims made by the US Justice Department. However, denial is not the story here; the timing and President Trump are.
The timing is critical because Trump, as the Wall Street Journal reported last Friday, plans to resume the maximum pressure campaign on Iran we saw during his first term once he returns to the White House.
The WSJ says that Trump hopes this will achieve two goals: first, ensure that Iran cannot afford to rebuild Hezbollah, Hamas, and its other regional proxies, and second push Iran into serious negotiations to abandon its nuclear project.
With the announcement that Tehran had been planning to assassinate him made before Trump even entered the Oval Office, things have become personal, and this is a president who openly values personal relationships and stances.
The timing, here, is everything. Is making the announcement now an attempt by the Biden administration to embroil Trump in direct escalation with Iran before he enters the White House? I don't think so, not on this point; they are all conspiracy theories.
I believe that the timing is tied to the timing of the planned assassination, which Iran denies. However, this is not the first time we have seen an announcement of an Iranian plot to carry out assassinations (whether against Trump or other officials or Iranian dissidents) in the United States.
Thus, the volatility of the timing cannot be underestimated, be it the result of misjudgment or a deliberate decision. It came as President-elect Trump won his second term and achieved an astonishing comeback and landslide victory.
Another reason is that Israel is fighting fierce battles against Iran's proxies in the region, and it is actively seeking to involve the United States in it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could not have been given a better gift than this assassination plot.