Trump threatens to wipe Iran off the map if its leaders consider assassinating him
The US president blames his predecessor Biden for what he calls lenient policies toward Tehran.
US President Donald Trump has returned to the forefront of political and media escalation against Iran, issuing a series of sharp threats that reflect a continued hardening of his rhetoric toward Tehran, particularly amid the protests sweeping the country and the growing tension between the two sides.
In a televised interview, Trump said that the United States would “wipe Iran off the face of the Earth” if his life were to be threatened, a statement widely regarded as one of his most extreme positions since his return to the political arena, reviving memories of the period of maximum tension that characterized relations between Washington and Tehran during his previous term.
These remarks came in response to a question from NewsNation about potential Iranian threats against him, to which Trump replied: “They shouldn’t do that, but I warned them: if anything happens, the entire country (Iran) will explode… I have very clear instructions: if anything happens, they will be completely wiped out.”
The US president has previously accused Iran on several occasions of attempting to assassinate him during his earlier election campaign, accusations that Tehran has categorically denied, dismissing them as part of political and media escalation.
In the same context, Trump did not miss the opportunity to attack his predecessor Joe Biden, accusing his administration of pursuing an overly lenient approach toward Iran. In this regard, he said: “We always wondered why Biden didn’t say anything. If I had been in the White House at that time, and if they had threatened anyone, not necessarily the president, but anyone as they did with me, I would have struck them very hard.”
Trump’s statements coincided with official Iranian warnings issued days earlier, when Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said his country was ready to teach Trump “a lesson he will never forget” should he take any military step against the Islamic Republic, highlighting the sensitivity of the current phase.
This exchange of verbal threats comes amid an unprecedented escalation in tensions between Washington and Tehran. Iran’s parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Committee issued stern warnings, stressing that any attack on Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would be considered a declaration of all-out war, with a response not limited to a narrow regional scope.
The committee also emphasized that such an attack would be viewed as a declaration of war against the Islamic world, noting that this scenario could lead to the issuance of a fatwa calling for jihad, according to the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA).
Meanwhile, Trump has continued in recent days to escalate his tone, speaking of the need for “regime change” in Iran, alongside media reports about US military movements and security and diplomatic preparations, with Israeli involvement, although the White House maintains that all options remain under consideration without a final decision having yet been taken.
Observers link Trump’s persistent hard line to the protests unfolding in Iran, as he has previously threatened to launch military strikes if peaceful demonstrators were killed. However, these threats have not yet translated into concrete action, despite growing pressure from several Republican Party leaders urging him to adopt a tougher stance toward Tehran.
