An attempted assassination took place at the Washington Hilton during a formal dinner attended by President Donald Trump, members of the U.S. administration, and White House correspondents. An armed attacker tried to breach a security checkpoint, firing at a United States Secret Service agent. The assailant was apprehended. No attendees were injured.
At a press conference convened after the incident, Donald Trump said that “it will not stop me from winning the war in Iran.”
“This will not stop me from winning the war in Iran. I don’t know if it had anything to do with it—I really don’t think so, based on what we know,” he told reporters.
Earlier, however, he noted that “you never know” whether the incident was connected to the conflict in the Middle East.
Preliminary information indicates that the perpetrator—a 30-year-old teacher from California—likely acted alone.
For now, negotiations aimed at reaching a ceasefire in Iran have stalled.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Aragchi, arrived in Muscat, the capital of Oman, on Saturday evening with a delegation. He had earlier been in Islamabad, where he met, among others, with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. However, a second round of talks with the U.S. delegation did not take place there.
After Abbas Aragchi departed Islamabad, Donald Trump announced that he had canceled the planned trip to Pakistan by his special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner for talks with Iran. He emphasized, however, that this does not signal a resumption of military operations against Iran.
