Donald Trump and Iranian officials vow devastating retaliation if either country’s leader is assassinated, escalating tensions amid Iran’s internal unrest.
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has reiterated a stark warning to Iran, stating the country would be wiped “off the face of this earth” if it ever succeeded in assassinating him.
The threat came during a heated exchange where both nations vowed broadscale war in response to any assassination attempt against their leaders.
“I have very firm instructions. Anything happens, they’re going to wipe them off the face of this earth,” Trump said in a televised interview.
Earlier, Iranian General Abolfazl Shekarchi issued a counter-threat regarding any aggression toward Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Shekarchi stated Tehran would “set their world on fire and leave them no safe haven in the region.”
Trump issued a similar warning a year ago, telling reporters Iran would get “obliterated” if it targeted him.
The exchange occurs as Iran continues to reel from major anti-government protests that began in late 2025.
Human rights groups are working to confirm protestor deaths, with one agency reporting over 4,000 confirmed fatalities.
The Norway-based Iran Human Rights NGO said verification is hampered by communication restrictions but indicated the death toll may exceed even the highest media estimates of 20,000.
Protests initially erupted over economic woes after Iran’s currency hit a new low under the 86-year-old ayatollah’s decades-long rule.
Many in Iran’s global diaspora, including exiled Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, have called for US intervention against Tehran’s ruling apparatus.
Ebadi has urged “highly targeted actions” against Iran’s supreme leader and commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
