President Donald Trump said on Friday he has "left instructions" for a massive response if Iran manages to assassinate him, promising to "bomb them at levels they've never seen before." He emphasized that he has been on Tehran's kill list for years and that any attack would trigger a severe retaliation.
The president linked the threat to a long‑standing animosity dating back to the 2020 strike that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, noting that Iran has pursued his death ever since. He referenced recent foiled plots, including a bullet that grazed his ear at a Pennsylvania rally in July 2024, and cited Iranian demonstrators at Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's funeral who displayed banners calling for his killing.
In response to recent Iranian aggression in the Strait of Hormuz, Trump announced the termination of a US‑Iran cease‑fire, lifted a waiver on Iranian oil sanctions and ordered roughly 200 strikes across Iran. After making the remarks at the NATO summit in Ankara, he swapped aircraft on his return flight as a security precaution.
