Iran plots to assassinate Trump, Israel warns US: what it means for markets
Geopolitical tensions between Washington and Tehran are escalating fast, sending oil prices higher and stock markets lower, with potential ripple effects across risk assets including crypto.
Israel shared intelligence with the United States revealing a new Iranian plot to assassinate President Donald Trump, according to The Wall Street Journal. The revelation, reported on July 9, 2026, arrives at a moment when US-Iran relations were already deteriorating at a remarkable pace.
Trump himself acknowledged the threat during a NATO summit in Ankara, putting a characteristically personal spin on it.
“The Iranians want to take down the leader of the United States, me.”
A pattern, not an isolated incident
This isn’t the first time Iran has allegedly targeted Trump. In 2024, the US Justice Department charged an Iranian man in connection with a prior assassination plot against Trump. And in March 2026, the US military executed a strike that killed the leader of an Iranian unit reportedly linked to those earlier attempts on Trump’s life.
Iran has promised retaliation ever since the January 2020 US drone strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, the powerful commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force.
Iranian forces have also been involved in missile and drone strikes on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. Roughly 20% of global oil supply transits through that narrow waterway on any given day.
Markets are already reacting
Stock markets have shown signs of volatility with reported declines, while oil prices have spiked on fears of potential military escalation.
For now, there hasn’t been a direct, measurable impact on crypto markets specifically. No cryptocurrencies were mentioned in connection with the intelligence or the plot itself.
What this means for crypto investors
If the US responds with new sanctions against Iran, those sanctions could affect global payment flows. Historically, sanctioned nations have turned to crypto as a workaround, which ironically tends to increase scrutiny and regulatory pressure on the entire digital asset ecosystem.
In the 2020 Soleimani strike aftermath, Bitcoin initially dropped alongside equities before recovering.
The immediate response from US officials has been notably sparse.