Iran issues assassination threat against Trump amid rising tensions
text_fields
Iran issued a direct threat against US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, with state-run television airing footage of his 2024 assassination attempt and warning that “this time the bullet will not miss the target.”
The broadcast showed clips from a July 13, 2024, campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a gunman shot at Trump, grazing his ear. Trump was seen leaving the stage bloodied and raising his fist after the attack.
The threat comes as Iran faces its largest wave of protests since the Islamic Republic was established in 1979. Demonstrations that began in late December have shaken the country, with human rights groups claiming that at least 3,428 people have been killed in a violent crackdown.
Trump has repeatedly threatened military intervention, saying the United States could step in to protect protesters. Washington has also warned Iran against carrying out death sentences against people arrested during the unrest. On Wednesday, Trump said he had been informed by “very important sources on the other side” that the killings were subsiding and that executions were not planned.
Iran has previously issued threats against Trump. In 2021, the office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei posted an image vowing revenge for the 2020 US drone strike that killed General Qasem Soleimani. In 2022, US authorities charged a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard with plotting to assassinate former national security adviser John Bolton.
In February last year, Trump said he had instructed advisers to “obliterate” Iran if it succeeded in killing him.
