Iran, while remaining the world's number one state sponsor of Islamic terrorism, has other distinctions. One of those is the habit of their mouths writing checks their butts can't cash.

In one such, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) has found a 2022 video posted to the Ayatollah's website, portraying a (hypothetical) attack on former president Donald Trump. The video is amateurish, resembling nothing so much as a computer game from about 1997, although it does imply a quasi-military operation aimed at the former president - presumably, according to several images and the hacked text message sent out by the operators, in revenge for Trump's ordering the un-aliving of Qasem Soleimani. 

This is pretty clearly a propaganda video intended for the Iranian people.

This was posted on the Ayatollah’s website.

Truly, terrifyingly chilling. pic.twitter.com/VmILkzdIyM

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) September 25, 2024

It's not that terrifyingly chilling. Were Iran to make an actual attempt on the former president - which isn't completely outside the bounds of possibility - they certainly wouldn't telegraph it by releasing a cheesy, amateurish video. And amateurish this is; an American teenager with an iPad could probably do better.

That being said, Iran certainly sees Donald Trump as a threat, and there are reputable reports of the Iranians possibly putting together a plan to take him out.

See Related: Iranians for Trump! Yes, Really. 

Trump Speaks Out After Being Briefed on Iranian Assassination Plot

Here's the thing: If Iran really did make an attempt on the life of a major American political figure, like Donald Trump, this isn't how they would go about it. There are some things to consider - things that the Secret Service had better be considering:

• If Iran does have teams in the United States or is planning to infiltrate such teams across the oozing open sore of our southern border, they won't be amateur goobers like the two that have already made attempts. They will be professionals, well-trained and well-equipped, and as such would be far more likely to succeed.
• It would be childishly easy to infiltrate such teams, as well as their equipment, across either the northern or southern border - or to land them by boat along a stretch of shoreline. The Harris/Biden administration's non-enforcement of the border has seen to that.
• However: Iran has to be aware of the likelihood that, before or after any such attempt, their teams would be caught. They would likely be prepared to ensure they aren't taken alive, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't be identified - as would their point of origin.
• Iran likewise has to be aware that this attempt on the life of a major American political figure would be crossing a big, red line in the sand - an act of war. While the Biden administration would probably follow their usual practice of bloviating but taking no action, any incoming administration may not be so indecisive.
• Iran would almost certainly favor a Harris administration over the advent of "Trump 2, 'This Time, It's Personal.'" And they aren't so stupid as to realize that an overt attempt by an unfriendly nation on Trump's life would be worth millions of votes. Americans don't take kindly to such attempts.

This video is, on the surface, chilling. But looked at with a calmer eye, it's pretty much a nothing-burger. That doesn't mean Iran doesn't harbor ill intentions toward the United States or, for that matter, toward Donald Trump. We should worry about what they may actually try, rather than what they are putting out as propaganda for internal consumption.