US President Donald Trump has said he has “left instructions” for the United States to launch an overwhelming military response against Iran if Tehran succeeds in assassinating him, warning that the country would be bombed “at levels that they’ve never seen before”.
Speaking in an interview with the New York Post, Trump said he had been on Iran’s alleged “kill list” for a long time and dismissed reports claiming Israeli intelligence had recently warned him about a fresh assassination plot.
“I’ve been on their list for a long time. That’s what we’re dealing with. The only thing is, I’ve left instructions — if anything happens, to just literally bomb them at levels that they’ve never seen before,” Trump told the New York Post.
Rejecting reports that Israel had alerted him to a new threat, Trump said, “No, no. Israel came up with nothing. No, no, I’ve been No. 1 [on Iran’s kill list] for a long time, and it’s the way life is, you know.”
Trump’s remarks come after the funeral of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and amid renewed reports about an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the US President.
Khamenei was laid to rest at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad early on Friday, 131 days after he was killed in joint US-Israeli strikes in Iran.
Separately, Trump said Washington had agreed to continue talks with Iran after Tehran requested further negotiations, while insisting that the ceasefire between the two sides remained over.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue ‘talks.’ We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
His comments come as Qatari negotiators travel to Iran in an effort to reduce tensions and revive talks between Washington and Tehran.
