{"id":4955,"date":"2026-07-13T10:38:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T05:38:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=4955"},"modified":"2026-07-13T10:38:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T05:38:52","slug":"how-serious-are-irans-threats-against-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=4955","title":{"rendered":"How Serious Are Iran\u2019s Threats Against Trump?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<section>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.time.com\/v3\/assets\/bltea6093859af6183b\/blt7c1837f66b2d2fb2\/6a53bcab194e345a83d2a52e\/AP26187405857053.jpg?branch=production\" \/><figcaption>At the Tehran funeral of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, mourners carry flags depicting him; his son, the new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei; and a banner reading &#8220;kill trump&#8221; on July 6, 2026. \u2014Altaf Qadri\u2014AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/article\/2026\/07\/05\/khamenei-s-funeral-is-meant-to-project-strength-but-iran-s-new-leader-has-yet-to-appear\/\">Mojtaba Khamenei<\/a> vowed in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MKhamenei_ir\/status\/2075905061931135261?s=20\">social media post<\/a> to avenge the death of his father, Ayatollah Ali <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/article\/2026\/03\/13\/Ali-Khamenei-Legacy-of-Repression-and-War\/\">Khamenei<\/a>. The former Supreme Leader was killed in the United States-Israel airstrikes that marked the start of the war with Iran on Feb. 28. His funeral was marked by chants calling for the deaths of both U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and it unfolded amid <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/article\/2026\/07\/07\/fresh-attacks-in-the-strait-of-hormuz-shake-peace-talks\/\">renewed escalations<\/a> between the United States and Iran.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In what is only his second public statement, the new Supreme Leader\u2014who has not appeared in public since he was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/irans-new-supreme-leader-wounded-likely-disfigured-hegseth-says-2026-03-13\/\">reportedly wounded<\/a> in the airstrikes that killed his father\u2014said he would avenge \u201cthe blood of all those martyred \u2026 by bringing the criminal and dishonorable killers to justice.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis revenge is the demand of our nation, and it will most certainly be carried out. These criminals \u2014 whose names are known from top to bottom \u2014 will take to their graves the unfulfilled wish of dying peacefully in their beds,\u201d he wrote on July 11.<\/p>\n<p>While Khamenei did not mention Trump by name, Israeli intelligence informed Washington earlier that week that Iran was exploring assassination plots, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/world\/middle-east\/iran-hatched-fresh-plot-to-kill-trump-israel-told-u-s-1511d9d2\"><em>Wall Street Journal<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Trump responded on <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/116899176820572671\">Truth Social<\/a>, saying that the U.S. would \u201cdecimate and destroy all areas of Iran\u201d in response to any attempts on his life.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/article\/2026\/07\/10\/iran-war-middle-east-water-scarcity-climate-crisis\/\"><em>How the Iran War Worsens the Climate Crisis<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u201c1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the Globe, to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate, the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case, ME,\u201d Trump said in his post.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has long said that he considers himself a target of the Iranian regime. At the <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/article\/2026\/07\/07\/europe-nato-trump-ankara-summit-\/\">NATO summit<\/a> in Ankara, Turkey, last week, Trump told reporters that he was \u201cNo. 1 on the kill list for Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been on their list for a long time. That\u2019s what we\u2019re dealing with,\u201d he said in an interview with the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/10\/us-news\/trump-tells-the-post-hes-left-instructions-should-iran-succeed-in-assassinating-its-no-1-target\/\"><em>New York Post<\/em><\/a> on July 10. \u201cI\u2019ve left instructions: If anything happens, to just literally bomb them at levels that they\u2019ve never seen before.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The remarks echoed his comments from early 2025, after the discovery of two Iran-linked plots against the President.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The first came to light in July 2024, when Pakistani national Asif Merchant was <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/7013497\/donald-trump-iran-assassination-plot\/\">arrested<\/a>\u2014and later <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/iranian-intelligence-agent-convicted-terrorism-and-murder-hire-connection-foiled-plot\">convicted<\/a>\u2014for a plot to kill United States politicians, potentially including Trump. The government said that Merchant had worked with Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to hire hitmen on American soil. Then, soon after Trump was elected for his second term in November 2024, the Justice Department <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/archives\/opa\/pr\/justice-department-announces-murder-hire-and-related-charges-against-irgc-asset-and-two\">announced<\/a> charges against Afghan national Farhad Shakeri, alleging that he was directed by <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/7296125\/iran-assassination-plot-trump-kill-khamenei-us-israel-carlson-cruz\/\">Iran&#8217;s government to draw up a plan to assassinate Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Trump told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xi4xYFK9qmU\">reporters<\/a> in the Oval Office in February 2025 that assassinating him \u201cwould be a terrible thing for them to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf they did that, they would be obliterated. That would be the end,\u201d he continued. \u201cI\u2019ve left instructions: If they do it, they get obliterated. There won\u2019t be anything left.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Why Tehran Keeps Calling for Revenge<\/h2>\n<p>Despite Trump\u2019s warnings about the repercussions of an attempt on his life, Iranian leadership continues to call for vengeance against the United States\u2014a mission that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian <a href=\"https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2026\/03\/01\/iran-president-says-avenging-khamenei-s-killing-legitimate-duty-and-right-\">has described<\/a> as his \u201clegitimate right and duty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Experts say that the rhetoric is expected after a major attack on a country\u2019s leadership. The former Supreme Leader is the latest example, but the U.S. was also responsible for the death of Iranian Quds Force Leader <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/5758250\/qasem-soleimani-iran-retaliation\/\">Qasem Soleimani<\/a> during Trump\u2019s first term in 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs bad as the enmity between the two countries has been for the last 47 years, it was taken up to a new [level] after the assassination of Soleimani\u2014and then even more importantly, the assassination of Khamenei,\u201d Trita Parsi, Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, tells TIME. \u201cI think that is what has opened the door for these kinds of threats and counter-threats.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Parsi says that Khamenei\u2019s renewed threats \u201cthrow a bone\u201d to appease Iranian officials who argue internally that \u201cit is the right of the nation to have its revenge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s important to understand how much of this is all wrapped up in Iranian internal politics and factional fighting,\u201d he says, explaining that arguments are \u201cprimarily coming from a minority of ultra-hardliners who have opposed the diplomacy, who opposed the <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/article\/2026\/06\/15\/america-iran-peace-agreement-prevent-next-war\/\">MOU<\/a>, who do not want to see any relinquishing of control of the <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/article\/2026\/06\/26\/strait-hormuz-iran-strike-vessel-un-escort-shipping-oil-trump\/\">Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, even if it is an arrangement that others in the Iranian system would find acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David Satterfield, Director of Rice University\u2019s Baker Institute for Public Policy, agrees that the Islamic Republic is \u201crallying for national support\u201d in its calls for vengeance.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, the Iranian government does not want to \u201cdeal with\u201d another popular protest like it did in January, Satterfield tells TIME. The subsequent crackdown reportedly killed <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/7357635\/more-than-30000-killed-in-iran-say-senior-officials\/\">tens of thousands of Iranians<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, he says that these calls for vengeance sustain Iranians\u2019 faith in their nation\u2019s \u201cability to project influence and power in the region\u201d after its closure of the Strait of Hormuz <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/article\/2026\/04\/17\/strait-of-hormuz-oil-price-volatility\/\">led to<\/a> a worldwide energy crisis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe calls for vengeance are both normative\u2014a public Iranian internal direct call to generate support for the regime\u2014[and] a further part of their strategic desire to be seen as a dominant force,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/article\/2026\/07\/09\/us-iran-strikes-trump-ceasefire-gulf-region\/\"><em>U.S. and Iran Trade Strikes For Second Night In a Row After Trump Says Cease-Fire Is &#8216;Over&#8217;<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>How Prior Threats Have Impacted Trump\u2019s Security<\/h2>\n<p>Regardless of whether Iran&#8217;s threats are primarily meant to rally domestic support, recent attempts on Trump&#8217;s life have prompted heightened security measures around the President.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, prosecutors indicted eight men on murder and terrorism conspiracy charges for their roles in a foiled sniper attack plan at the <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/article\/2026\/06\/15\/ufc-fight-white-house-freedom-250-photos\/\">UFC Freedom 250 fight<\/a> at the White House in June.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/federal-grand-jury-indicts-8-men-conspiracies-related-plot-attack-ufc-freedom-250-event\">affidavit<\/a>, prosecutors allege that the suspects aimed to assassinate not only Trump, but also Vice President JD Vance, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, trillionaire businessman Elon Musk, and \u201cother high value targets\u201d at the event.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThanks to the rapid action of this FBI, our partners, and the Department of Justice in a multi-state operation, multiple individuals are now in custody, and allegedly planned attacks were stopped cold,\u201d FBI Director Kash Patel said in a social media <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FBIDirectorKash\/status\/2066835691506471290?s=20\">statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This was the most recent in several highly publicized attempts to kill the President, tracing back to the campaign trail, where a bullet struck Trump during a <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/6998302\/trump-rally-shooting-2\/\">rally<\/a> in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024. In September 2024, a <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/7319808\/ryan-routh-guilty-attempted-assassination-trump\/\">man was found hiding<\/a> in the bushes with a rifle outside of Trump International Golf Club in <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/article\/2026\/07\/09\/florida-airport-officially-renamed-after-trump-here-s-what-to-know\/\" target=\"_self\">West Palm Beach<\/a>, Florida. A gunman was apprehended after <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/article\/2026\/04\/25\/trump-rushed-off-stage-after-shots-fired-at-white-house-correspondents-dinner\/\">opening fire<\/a> at the White House Correspondents Association dinner in April 2026.<\/p>\n<p>In response, Trump\u2019s team implemented more rigorous security measures, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ap.org\/news-highlights\/elections\/2024\/trump-speaks-from-behind-bulletproof-glass-at-first-outdoor-rally-since-his-attempted-assassination\/\">walls of bulletproof glass<\/a> to stand between him and attendees at public speaking events and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2024-election\/trump-harris-unprecedented-levels-security-assassination-attempts-rcna172569\">expanded security detail<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2026\/07\/10\/trump-plan-would-fence-pennsylvania-avenue-outside-white-house\/\"><em>Washington Post<\/em><\/a> reported that the Trump Administration is considering permanent fencing to surround Lafayette Square Park and along Pennsylvania Avenue, which would allow officials to quickly close the park in the event of a live threat.<\/p>\n<p>The heightened security has unfolded alongside Trump&#8217;s unusually public discussion of rising threats\u2014something former Secret Service officials say does not alter how agents evaluate risk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHaving been with several presidents and vice presidents, everybody&#8217;s personality is different,\u201d Bobby McDonald, a retired supervisory Secret Service agent and an assistant professor of practice at the University of New Haven, tells TIME. \u201cWe&#8217;ve really never seen a president like Trump before.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But he says that the job of the Secret Service doesn\u2019t change, even with an unprecedented level of running commentary coming out of the White House.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe&#8217;s out there with the rhetoric or whatever you want to call it\u2014poking the bear in this war\u2014and the rest of us who are the professionals in this area have to go out and manage that threat assessment and that threat detection and mitigation plan,\u201d McDonald says.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He and other experts caution that public discourse, intelligence assessments, and actual operational intent should not be treated as interchangeable.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>Separating Rhetoric From Reality<\/h2>\n<p>Assessing the risk from Iran requires weighing two separate questions, experts say: how much confidence to place in recently shared Israeli intelligence, and whether Khamenei&#8217;s calls for vengeance could encourage others to act.<\/p>\n<p>Parsi says it\u2019s reasonable to question the merits of any intel being shared with Trump\u2019s Administration by Israel, given that Netanyahu\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/article\/2026\/06\/17\/g7-leaders-call-for-immediate-ceasefire-lebanon-us-iran-peace-deal\/\">refusal to withdraw troops from Lebanon<\/a> has created friction for U.S.-Iran peace talks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Israelis are not particularly credible in this context because they have been pushing against the MOU and pushing for a return to war,\u201d he says. \u201cTo the best of my knowledge, there&#8217;s nothing in the public domain that suggests that it is [credible].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Satterfield also believes it is unlikely Iran\u2019s government would directly try to assassinate Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s not Iran\u2019s modus operandi,\u201d he says. But, he adds: \u201cIt is a threat to take seriously\u2014maybe more seriously because it does <em>not<\/em> suggest that the government of Iran would do this themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rather, Khamenei\u2019s calls for revenge have the potential to inspire a \u201clone wolf\u201d or \u201cproxy\u201d to carry out an attack in the regime\u2019s name, Satterfield explains.<\/p>\n<p>He points to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini\u2019s 1989 <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/archive\/6701961\/hunted-by-an-angry-faith\/\">fatwa<\/a> calling for the death of author <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/6270878\/salman-rushdie-interview-time100\/\">Salman Rushdie<\/a>. Although Iran announced in 1998 that it would not enforce the decree, Rushdie survived an assassination attempt that left him blind in one eye in 2022. Satterfield points to the attack as an example of how the government\u2019s rhetoric could inspire violence in the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, Trump\u2019s security detail will be prepared, McDonald says, explaining that \u201call types of threats have to be taken with the utmost care and seriousness\u201d by the Secret Service.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Investigations occur through intelligence-gathering, interviews with people \u201con the ground\u201d in multiple countries, and through embassies, he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Secret Service takes any type of threat as credible initially, and then through investigation, interviews, and doing their homework of a particular case, then they may make a decision that a particular threat is not credible,\u201d he says. \u201cBut that has to be investigated.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the Tehran funeral of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, mourners carry flags depicting him; his son, the new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei; and a banner reading &#8220;kill trump&#8221; on July 6, 2026. \u2014Altaf Qadri\u2014AP Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowed in a social media post to avenge the death of his father,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static.time.com\/v3\/assets\/bltea6093859af6183b\/blt7c1837f66b2d2fb2\/6a53bcab194e345a83d2a52e\/AP26187405857053.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}