United States President Donald Trump has said he has left standing instructions for the U.S. military to carry out an overwhelming attack on Iran if he is assassinated.
Speaking in an interview with The New York Post on Friday, Trump said any successful attempt on his life by Iran would trigger a devastating military response.
“I’ve left instructions — if anything happens, to just literally bomb them at levels that they’ve never seen before,” Trump said.
The president has repeatedly claimed that he is Iran’s “No. 1 target” and has warned that Tehran could attempt to kill him. He first made similar remarks in February 2025 while signing an executive order restoring his “maximum pressure” policy against Iran, stating that the country would be “obliterated” if he were assassinated.
Trump’s latest comments come after this week’s NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, where he repeatedly told reporters he remained at the top of Iran’s alleged assassination list. During a press briefing, he also suggested journalists aboard Air Force One were on a “dangerous flight” due to potential security threats.
Asked whether Israel had uncovered a fresh Iranian assassination plot, Trump dismissed the reports, saying, “Israel came up with nothing.”
Despite that, he maintained that he has lived under constant threat for years.
Iran has openly vowed to seek revenge for the 2020 U.S. drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force. Iranian officials and supporters have repeatedly called for retaliation since the killing.
U.S. intelligence officials reportedly assessed in 2024 that Tehran was exploring possible ways to target Trump, although the assassination attempts against him during that year’s presidential campaign were not linked to Iran.
Federal prosecutors have also previously announced charges in separate alleged plots connected to individuals accused of having ties to Iran, including Pakistani national Asif Raza Merchant and Iranian operative Farhad Shakeri, who was accused of seeking to recruit individuals to assassinate Trump after the 2025 election.
Iran has consistently denied accusations that it is plotting to kill the U.S. president. Earlier this year, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told NBC News that Iran had “never attempted” to assassinate Trump and had no plans to do so, describing the allegations as part of efforts to fuel hostility toward Tehran.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei also dismissed the allegations, calling them a “repulsive” campaign aimed at worsening relations between Iran and the United States.
Meanwhile, Trump has continued to issue strong warnings against Iran throughout the ongoing conflict, saying the country would face catastrophic consequences if hostilities escalated further or if attacks on international shipping persisted.
Speaking at the NATO summit, Trump said several senior Iranian leaders had already been killed during the conflict and added that he remained what he described as Iran’s top target.
“They had leaders. They’re gone, and they had another set of leaders. They’re gone,” Trump said. “Now they have another set of leaders, they may be gone, who knows, and you know what, I may be gone too, because I’m their No. 1 target.”
