Iran's assassination threat drew a response: Trump says Iran will be bombed "at levels they've never seen before" if they target his life

President Donald Trump stated on Friday that he has left instructions for the United States to carry out a devastating military response against Iran if he is ever assassinated. Speaking to the New York Post, the Republican president asserted that the retaliation should be on a scale never seen before and noted that he is aware he has been a target of the Islamic theocracy for years. “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 said.

Regarding the possibility that information about Iran’s plans to assassinate him may have been deliberately leaked by Israel to influence his decisions on a potential escalation of the offensive against Iran, as detailed by CNN in an article, Trump categorically rejected that idea and insisted that Iran has been trying to kill him for years. “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” said the Republican president.

Relations between the two countries have once again entered a state of conflict after Iran attacked commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. Although Trump announced that the United States remains willing to continue diplomatic talks at Tehran’s request, he stated on Friday that Washington had informed Tehran that the ceasefire had ended.

Trump’s remarks come a day after The Wall Street Journal reported that Israeli intelligence officials shared information with the United States about an alleged new Iranian plot to assassinate the president. Iranian authorities have repeatedly threatened Trump since he authorized the 2020 U.S. strike that killed senior Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani. During the funeral ceremonies held this week for the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Reuters reported that attendees chanted “Death to America,” while a banner displayed on the streets of Tehran read: “We will kill Trump.”