In a stark warning to Iran on Tuesday, President Donald Trump declared that any successful attempt on his life would result in Iran’s complete obliteration, as he signed a new executive order targeting Tehran with maximum pressure sanctions.
The president’s forceful statement came in response to recently revealed Iranian assassination plots against him, as reported by Resist the Mainstream late last year.
“That would be a terrible thing for them to do,” Trump stated during the signing ceremony.
“If they did that, they would be obliterated. That would be the end. … There won’t be anything left.”
Trump also took aim at former President Joe Biden, claiming his successor demonstrated a “lack of intelligence” by not issuing similar warnings to Iran during his presidency.
The criticism highlights the ongoing political tension between the two leaders and their differing approaches to Iranian relations.
The Department of Justice confirmed in November that it had successfully thwarted an Iranian plot to assassinate Trump in the lead-up to the presidential election, Fox News highlighted.
An official from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps recruited Farhad Shakeri, a 51-year-old Iranian national, to conduct surveillance and plan Trump’s assassination, according to a criminal complaint filed in September.
Shakeri, who immigrated to the United States as a child, had previously served 14 years in prison for robbery before being deported approximately 17 years ago.
Justice Department officials revealed that Shakeri received his assassination assignment on Oct. 7, 2024.
He currently remains at large and is believed to be residing in Iran, per Fox.
While signing what he described as a “very powerful document,” Trump expressed hope that implementing the measures wouldn’t be necessary.
“I’m signing this, and it’s a very powerful document, but hopefully we’re not going to have to use it,” he remarked.
The executive order represents the latest escalation in tensions between the United States and Iran, as both nations continue their long-standing diplomatic standoff.
The order’s signing comes at a critical time when international attention is focused on the volatile relationship between the two countries, Fox further noted.
After Trump survived the assassination attempt by Thomas Crooks last year, UFC President Dana White reportedly pleaded with him to end his presidential campaign.
Instead of caving in, the then-Republican presidential nominee replied, “You don’t ever quit.”
“The way Trump reacted to the assassination attempt, every man hopes that’s the way you would react,” White told Piers Morgan in an interview.
White urged Trump to step away from politics when he managed to speak with him shortly after the attack, Resist the Mainstream reported on Tuesday.
“Why are you doing this stuff? Stop,” White recalled telling Trump.
“I told him to stop so many times. It’s just like, ‘You have such a good life, and you could do all these other things.’”
Trump reportedly responded: “I can’t quit. You don’t ever quit. You never quit.”
White told Morgan that Trump believes his survival was part of a greater plan.
“He believes in God, and he’s very religious,” White continued.
“He believes that, to his core, that God has spared his life to be the president and do the things that he’s going to do over the next four years.”
