Iran has roundly rejected claims of devising plot to assassinate former US president Donald Trump, but vows to pursue legal channels to consign him to justice for his ordering the assassination of the Islamic Republic’s top anti-terror commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani made the remarks on Wednesday after US media alleged that American authorities had obtained “intelligence from a human source in recent weeks on a plot by Iran to try to assassinate Trump.”

It followed an assassination attempt against Trump that took place while he was campaigning in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump survived the attempt, suffering an ear injury.

Kan’ani said Iran strongly rejected allegations of any involvement in the armed attack against Trump or claims of harboring any intention to take such action, Kan’ani said.

The Islamic Republic considers such claims to be a product of malicious political goals and intents, he added.

The country, however, is determined to legally pursue Trump due to his direct role in the assassination of General Soleimani, the spokesman asserted.

Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), and their companions were assassinated in a US drone strike authorized by Trump near Baghdad International Airport on January 3, 2020.

The commanders were highly revered across West Asia due to their key role in fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the region, particularly in Iraq and neighboring Syria.

Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations also reacted to the US media report earlier on Wednesday, considering its claim to be “unfounded and malicious.”

The mission, nevertheless, asserted that “from the Islamic Republic’s standpoint, Trump is a criminal, who should be tried and punished in court for [issuing] General Soleimani’s assassination order.”

“Iran has chosen the legal pathway to hold him accountable,” it stated.