Trump Says He Left Instructions

to "Bomb" Iran if He Is Assassinated

Report By Y-Trendz

President Donald Trump said Friday that he has instructed U.S. officials to launch an unprecedented military strike on Iran if the country succeeds in assassinating him, as tensions between Washington and

Tehran continue to escalate following the collapse of a temporary ceasefire.

What Trump Said

In an interview with the New York Post, Trump described the long-standing threat against his life and the contingency plan he says he has put in place. Trump told the outlet he has left instructions to bomb Iran at unprecedented levels if Tehran succeeds in an assassination plot against him. He framed the threat as nothing new, noting that he has been on Iran's target list for a long time.

This is not the first time Trump has made this kind of threat. Back in February, he said he had given advisers instructions to be carried out if he were killed by Iran, warning that the country "would be obliterated" and that "there won't be anything left."

Denial of a Fresh Assassination Plot

The latest remarks came a day after the Wall Street Journal reported that Israel had shared intelligence with the United States pointing to a new Iranian plot against Trump's life. Trump pushed back firmly on that account, telling the Post that Israel "came up with nothing" and that he has been Iran's top target "for a long time," adding that "it's the way life is." He went further, quipping that he hoped people would "miss" him if anything happened to him.

Separately, CNN reported, citing U.S. officials, that the Israeli intelligence sharing could have been an attempt to influence Trump's stance as he weighs whether to escalate military action against Iran — suggesting some skepticism within the U.S. government about the motives behind the warning, even as Trump publicly dismissed it.

Context: Escalating Military Tensions

The comments arrive against the backdrop of a rapidly deteriorating security situation between the two countries. Trump declared this week that the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran was over, after Iran allegedly fired on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. In response, the U.S. reportedly struck back after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had targeted American military sites, including facilities in Bahrain's Fifth Naval District and Kuwait's Ali Al Salem Air Base, in a joint missile and drone operation.

On Truth Social, Trump acknowledged that Iran had asked to continue negotiations, writing that the U.S. had agreed to keep talking but had made clear to Tehran that the ceasefire was finished. Also this week, Trump moved to tighten economic pressure on Iran by revoking a waiver that had allowed continued purchases of Iranian oil.

Iran's Long-Standing Animosity

Trump's fear of assassination traces back to January 2020, when he ordered the drone strike that killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, near Baghdad's airport. Iran has repeatedly vowed retaliation for Soleimani's death, and U.S. officials have tracked what they describe as a persistent pattern of Iranian plots against Trump and other former officials involved in that operation. In November 2025, a fugitive Iranian operative was accused of hiring two people to carry out an assassination plot against a regime critic, and he reportedly told the FBI he had also been tasked with finding a hit squad to kill Trump.

The rhetoric around Trump's safety intensified further this week during the funeral of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes earlier this year. Mourners at the funeral procession chanted threats against Trump, with some holding placards reading "Kill Trump" and vowing to avenge Khamenei's death. At last week's NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Trump repeatedly told reporters that he considers himself "No. 1" on Iran's kill list, and his decision to fly home on an older Air Force One rather than the newer aircraft gifted by Qatar drew attention to heightened security concerns, though the White House downplayed any connection.

A Legal Question Mark

Despite Trump's insistence that he has left binding instructions for a massive retaliatory strike, some legal experts have questioned whether such an order could actually be carried out. The New York Times cited experts noting that a sitting president cannot leave binding instructions for military action to be executed after his death, since command authority would automatically transfer to his successor as the new commander in chief.

Iran, for its part, has consistently denied plotting against Trump or other American officials, dismissing similar accusations in the past as fabrications. As of Friday, both sides indicated a willingness to keep talking even as military and rhetorical tensions remain at a boiling point, with the fate of the ceasefire and broader U.S.-Iran relations still unresolved.