A blunt admission from President Donald Trump this week has thrust the threat of Iranian assassination back into the international spotlight. Speaking to assembled world leaders at the NATO summit in Turkey, the president confirmed what intelligence officials have long suspected: Tehran wants him dead.
Trump did not mince words when addressing the threat directly. “They [Iran] want to take out the US leader – me. I’m on every list,” he stated.
He went further, offering a rare personal reflection on the danger surrounding him.
“I’m on every single one of their lists, and so far I guess I’ve been a little bit lucky, but that maybe doesn’t last very long, because that’s the way it goes,” Trump said.
The timing of his remarks was notable. Hardline Iranian lawmakers had just called publicly for missile strikes aimed at the very location hosting the summit.
Days before that, individuals mourning at Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s funeral were reported to have placed a bounty on the American president’s head.
Trump revisited the topic of his own safety again later, this time during a press briefing alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and several cabinet officials.
Asked about the shifting power structure inside Iran following Khamenei’s death, Trump gave a stark answer.
“They’re gone now. They have another set of leaders. They may be gone,” he said, before pivoting to his own precarious position.
“Who knows? And you know what, I may be gone too because I’m their number one target. It’s out all over the place. I’m the number one, because they’re scum,” Trump said.
Context for the president’s comments traces back to his recent decision to end the ceasefire arrangement with Tehran.
That decision followed Iranian attacks on commercial shipping vessels moving through the Strait of Hormuz, prompting the U.S. military to launch a fresh round of strikes against regime assets.
Disturbing imagery emerged from Khamenei’s funeral procession Monday, broadcast from the streets of Tehran. Demonstrators loyal to the regime carried signs bearing Trump’s image, his face overlaid with a red crosshair.
A pointed message accompanied the image: “Sooner or later, your heads will roll.”
Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were not spared either. Their faces appeared on separate placards, also marked with crosshairs, next to the warning “There will be blood.”
The scene grew more intense as the coffin moved through the capital, with crowds erupting into chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”
Witnesses also documented protesters setting American and British flags ablaze, while others hurled stones at photographs of the president displayed publicly. Near the head of the procession, an effigy of Trump depicted in a hanging pose was visible to the crowd.
None of this hostility is new. Iran’s desire to see Trump killed dates back to January 2020, when he ordered the drone strike that eliminated Revolutionary Guard commander Qasem Soleimani during his first term.
That grievance has simmered for years. Throughout Trump’s 2024 campaign, U.S. intelligence agencies issued multiple warnings that Iranian operatives were actively developing plans to kill him, as well as former administration officials tied to the Soleimani operation.
The threat has already produced criminal charges. Federal prosecutors indicted a Revolutionary Guard operative accused of offering $300,000 to arrange the murder of former national security advisor John Bolton on U.S. soil.
Two other former officials from Trump’s first term, ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Iran envoy Brian Hook, remain under round-the-clock government protection because of ongoing threats connected to the same 2020 strike.
Trump’s latest comments land at a particularly sensitive moment — just before the two-year anniversary of the attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, an attack that came dangerously close to ending his life.
A newly released inspector general report from the Department of Homeland Security added fresh scrutiny to that incident. Investigators found that the Secret Service failed to respond to 102 radio calls warning that gunman Thomas Crooks had been spotted on a rooftop near Trump carrying a rifle.
The report further revealed that agents standing near Trump on stage during the rally were never notified of the threat despite repeated internal warnings. Crooks was fatally shot by law enforcement at the scene in July 2024.
