Donald Trump and Ali Khamenei
Tensions between the United States and Iran escalated further Saturday after a leading Iranian state-run newspaper, closely linked to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, published a shocking call for the assassination of US President Donald Trump.
The editorial, published by the hardline Kayhan newspaper, included a chilling statement: “He’s way out of line! Any day now, in revenge for the blood of Martyr Soleimani, a few bullets are going to be fired into that empty skull of his and he’ll be drinking from the chalice of a cursed death.”
The article appeared just days after Trump made a provocative statement warning of military strikes if Iran refuses to cooperate on its nuclear weapons program. “If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing,” Trump said. “But there’s a chance that if they don’t make a deal, that I will do secondary tariffs on them like I did four years ago.” He also confirmed, “The US and officials from the Islamic Republic are talking.”
Trump’s remarks appear to have provoked Kayhan, often regarded as a mouthpiece for the supreme leader. The paper wrote, “He makes threats and then backs down! The result? The situation in America gets worse by the day. Just yesterday, it was announced that his actions have caused $3 trillion in damage to the US economy, American exports are facing serious problems, and top officials in the military, CIA, and elsewhere have either resigned or been dismissed.”
Iranian-born Israeli analyst Beni Sabti, a fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, warned that Iran’s regime is trying to stoke global animosity toward Trump. “[They] want to unite the world against Trump and wants someone to shoot Trump, and also they want to bring the economic issue against him,” he said. Sabti likened the regime’s rhetoric to the 2022 stabbing of author Salman Rushdie in New York, saying the current climate is fueled by the same dangerous propaganda. “It is very good opportunity for the Trump administration to file a complaint with United Nations Security Council,” he added.
The inflammatory language in Kayhan follows years of threats from Iran’s regime in retaliation for the 2020 US drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, a top general in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. At the time, Trump ordered the strike citing Soleimani’s role in orchestrating the deaths of over 600 American troops. Since then, Iranian officials have promised vengeance, including potential plots to kill Trump and members of his administration.
Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), noted that Kayhan has consistently advocated for Trump’s assassination. “Kayhan has repeatedly threatened to assassinate President Trump for years. Kayhan’s editor Hossein Shariatmadari is a personal representative of Iran’s supreme leader,” he told Fox News.
Brodsky further stressed, “Such threats ring hollow the demands of Iranian officials for there to be ‘mutual respect’ during future negotiations with the United States.” He added that the threats align with past Iranian attempts to assassinate US figures and should disqualify any diplomatic overtures from the regime. “The Trump administration should make clear that there can be no negotiations while Iran’s regime is threatening and plotting to kill American citizens.”
Brodsky also called on the US to impose sanctions on Kayhan and its editor, stating, “The US should also sanction Hossein Shariatmadari and Kayhan. The US Treasury Department previously designated Iranian media networks like PressTV and Tasnim. It should do so with Kayhan as well. Canada has already sanctioned Kayhan given its record of threats.”
Just months ago, the US Justice Department revealed it had disrupted a plot orchestrated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps aimed at assassinating Trump. A federal court filing detailed how a 51-year-old Iranian national, Farhad Shakeri, was tasked in September with surveilling and potentially killing the US president.
The threats from Iran have not only been verbal. In a disturbing escalation, Iranian state media even released an animated video depicting Trump’s assassination. The video, reportedly uploaded to a website linked to Khamenei himself, simulated a targeted strike on Trump in what was widely interpreted as state-sponsored incitement.
While Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has publicly stated that Iran is open to dialogue, “We don’t avoid talks; it’s the breach of promises that has caused issues for us so far,” he told the Associated Press. He insisted that trust must be rebuilt before talks can resume: “They must prove that they can build trust.”
Even so, Pezeshkian acknowledged that some level of indirect contact with the Trump administration is ongoing. The White House and US State Department have not publicly responded to the renewed threats or diplomatic gestures as of yet.
As the rhetoric intensifies, observers warn that Iran’s blend of violent threats, state propaganda, and aggressive nuclear posturing could lead to even more instability in the region—and could derail any remaining hopes for negotiation.
