Trump warns Iran against targeting him

United States President Donald Trump has threatened to “decimate and destroy all areas of Iran” if he faces any assassination attempt, as the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei says avenging his ?slain predecessor and father was “the demand of ?the nation” and “must certainly” take place.

“We pledge to ?avenge the blood of ?the martyred leader ?and all the martyrs of these two wars from the and disgraced killers,” Khamenei wrote on Telegram on Saturday following a week-long series of formal funeral processions and events for his father that culminated in his burial late on Thursday.

A total of more than 15 million people thronged the streets for funeral processions in Tehran and Qom in Iran, and Najaf and Karbala in Iraq, before the final burial in Mashhad late on Thursday.

Banners and chants calling for Trump to be killed were widespread at the events.

In a typically bellicose post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday, Trump wrote: “1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the Globe, to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate, the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case, ME!”

He added: “Orders have already been given, and the U.S. Military is ready, willing, and able, ?for a one year period of time, subject to extension, to completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran – PRAISE BE TO ALLAH!”

Israel warned the US earlier in the week about a new and specific Iranian plot to assassinate Trump, US media reported.

Sources told CNN that the new Israeli intelligence detailed a highly specific, active plot. The Wall Street Journal also confirmed the threat was “fresh”.

Tehran has pledged revenge against Trump since 2020, when he ordered the drone attack that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.

The threat reportedly prompted the US Secret Service to request that Trump switch planes when leaving the NATO summit in Turkiye earlier in the week.