Former US President Donald Trump recently expressed strong sentiments on Truth Social, stating that he hopes “America obliterates Iran, wipes it off the face of the earth” if Iran succeeds in assassinating him. This post included a video of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressing Congress about threats from the Islamic Republic. Trump emphasized that if such retaliation does not occur, American leaders would be considered “gutless cowards.”
This call for vengeance follows a recent attempt on Trump’s life. Less than two weeks ago, during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, a bullet grazed Trump’s ear. The incident resulted in the death of 50-year-old Corey Comperatore, a heroic firefighter, and left two others injured. Trump was helped off the stage by U.S. Secret Service agents during the event.
US officials later disclosed intelligence that indicated an Iranian plot to kill Trump just weeks prior to the July 13 shooting. This threat was communicated to the lead Secret Service agent assigned to Trump’s protection detail and to his campaign team. The White House National Security Council has been monitoring Iranian threats against Trump administration officials for several years, particularly following the US killing of Qassem Soleimani, the leader of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, who was targeted on Trump’s orders in 2020.
Trump’s hardline stance towards adversaries is not new. In 2017, he made a similar comment about North Korea, warning that Kim Jong Un’s country would face “fire and fury” if it continued its belligerent behaviour against the US. “He [Kim Jong-un] has been very threatening beyond a normal state, and as I said, they will be met with the fire and fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before,” Trump said.
In 2019, he warned that if Iran were to develop a nuclear weapon, it would face unprecedented obliteration. During an interview on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press,’ Trump stated, “I’m not looking for war, and if there is, it’ll be obliteration like you’ve never seen before. But I’m not looking to do that. But you can’t have a nuclear weapon. You want to talk? Good. Otherwise, you can have a bad economy for the next three years.”
The heightened security concerns and Trump’s assertive rhetoric underscore the ongoing tensions between the US and Iran, particularly in the wake of previous conflicts and assassination attempts.
