Mahmoud Ahmadinejad nearly shot by secret service during UN visit
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (L) waves to the crowd while departing from the funeral for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the Military Academy on March 8, 2013 in Caracas, Venezuela.
Few knew how close the United States came to causing a major international incident that could have inflamed the Middle East.
Now a new book claims that the US Secret Service nearly killed Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accidentally on a visit to the United Nations in 2006.
The book, "Deep State," by journalists Marc Ambinder and D.B. Grady says that word of the accident showed up in President Bush's daily intelligence briefs.
“A U.S. Secret Service agent, in an apparent accident, discharged his shotgun as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was loading his motorcade at the InterContinental Hotel yesterday,” the note said.
Apparently the agent was adjusting the side-mounted shotgun as Ahmadinejad was being escorted into a nearby vehicle.
The gunshot drew the attention of the Iranian delegation.
Ahmadinejad apparently turned and looked at the agent and got in his car without saying anything.
Iran also never said a word about the incident.
The authors write:
Their silence led several White House aides to begin to see Ahmadinejad in a new light. Here was evidence that maybe Iran was acting strategically, and therefore cautiously.
Close call!