US President Donald Trump has issued an unusually forceful warning to Iran, threatening overwhelming military retaliation if Tehran attempts to assassinate him.
In a Truth Social post published late on Friday, July 10, Trump claimed the United States had positioned a large number of missiles against Iran and that American forces were prepared to respond immediately to any attempt on his life. He said orders had already been issued to the military.
The warning followed reports that Israeli officials had alerted Trump to a possible new Iranian assassination plot. No detailed public evidence about the reported plan was included in the Business Times report, and Iranian authorities had not been quoted responding to the allegation.
Trump’s statement came during another period of escalating hostility between Washington and Tehran. Recent clashes have placed a tentative agreement between the two countries under severe strain, reducing hopes that the arrangement could produce a lasting pause in their confrontation.
Tensions have remained high since the United States and Israel launched a military campaign against Iran on February 28. Former Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei was killed during the operation and was subsequently succeeded by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei. Trump delivered his latest threat shortly after Iran completed several days of funeral ceremonies for the former leader.
The US president said any assassination attempt would trigger attacks intended to destroy major parts of Iran. His remarks marked one of his most explicit threats of direct retaliation against the Iranian government and demonstrated how concerns about his personal security have become intertwined with the broader conflict.
Security questions were also raised after Trump changed Air Force One aircraft at a British military base while returning from the NATO summit in Turkey. Asked whether the switch was connected to a security threat, Trump denied that it had been prompted by any specific concern.
When reporters questioned him about a possible Iranian threat against the presidential aircraft, Trump said he faced threats regularly and believed he was Tehran’s leading target.
Trump has previously survived several assassination attempts. During the 2024 presidential campaign, his team said officials from the Biden administration had briefed him about what they described as specific Iranian threats against his life.
Iran has long been accused by US authorities of considering retaliation against American officials connected to earlier actions against Tehran, including the killing of senior Iranian military commanders. However, the latest reported threat has not been publicly detailed enough for its credibility, timing or operational stage to be independently assessed.
The president’s warning risks further escalating a conflict already involving military strikes, threats against commercial shipping and uncertainty surrounding the Strait of Hormuz. Any direct attack against a sitting American president would almost certainly provoke a major US response and could widen the confrontation across the Middle East.
Trump’s statement also suggests that Washington is attempting to deter Tehran by making the potential consequences of an assassination plot unmistakably clear. At the same time, the scale of the threatened retaliation could intensify fears that a single incident, intelligence error or unverified allegation might trigger a far broader regional war.
With diplomacy faltering and both sides continuing to exchange threats, the alleged plot has added another dangerous dimension to the already volatile relationship between the United States and Iran.
