Claiming that the US will wipe out Iran if the latter assassinates him, Donald Trump on Tuesday said, "I have very firm instructions - anything happens, they're going to wipe them off the face of this earth."
Trump made the comments during an interview on NewsNation's "Katie Pavlich Tonight". Iran on Tuesday warned Trump not to take any action against the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This warning came days after the US President called for an end to Khamenei's nearly 40-year rule.
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"Trump knows that if any hand of aggression is extended toward our leader, we not only cut that hand but also we will set fire to their world," General Abolfazl Shekarchi, a spokesperson for Iran's armed forces, said.
Trump's orders to obliterate Iran
Earlier, Trump had instructed his advisors to obliterate Iran if the country is behind an assassination of him. Additionally, in an interview with Politico, according to News18, Trump had publicly criticised Khamenei and called him "a sick man who should run his country properly and stop killing people" and asserted that "it's time to look for new leadership in Iran".
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Tensions high between US and Iran
Since December 28, 2025, when Iranian authorities violently repressed demonstrators protesting Iran's collapsing economy, Trump has signalled that two acts of violence will not be tolerated: violent crackdown on non-violent demonstrators and large-scale executions carried out by the Islamic Republic in retaliation to the unrest within Iran.
