Trump Has ‘Left Instructions’ on What to Do if Iran’s Islamic Regime Assassinates Him

I’m old enough to remember, since it was just a few weeks ago, when President Donald Trump was praising the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and suggesting that since they were so calm and reasonable, as opposed to those whom they had replaced, that regime change had been effectively accomplished, even if the regime still bore the same. This was, of course, complete nonsense, and now that Trump is back to noting how evil the regime in Tehran really is, he has left instructions for what his successor should do if the Iranians succeed in assassinating him, as they’ve been threatening to do for years.

The New York Post reported Friday that Trump observed: “I’ve been on their list for a long time. That’s what we’re dealing with…. The only thing is, I’ve left instructions — if anything happens, to just literally bomb them at levels that they’ve never seen before.”

Asked if Israel had uncovered information about a new Iranian plot against him, Trump responded: “No, no. Israel came up with nothing. No, no. I’ve been No. 1 [on Iran’s kill list] for a long time, and it’s the way life is, you know.” Then he added: “I hope you’ll miss me,” which the New York Post interprets as “sounding resigned to the reality that Tehran will never stop trying to off him,” but was really a small dose of Trump’s always underestimated sense of humor.

And Trump is right, he has been on the Islamic Republic’s kill list for years. On June 21, 2026, former Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said: “Trump needs to know that he is a murderer in the eyes of the Iranian public. Iran has the right to kill him, in order to avenge the blood of its martyred Imam. Trump has not developed such fear yet.”

He has had plenty of time to do so. Fox News reported in November 2024 that “a criminal complaint filed in a New York City federal court stated that an unnamed official in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps told Farhad Shakeri, 51, of Iran, to “focus on surveilling, and, ultimately, assassinating, former President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. Shakeri has informed law enforcement that he was tasked on Oct. 7, 2024, with providing a plan to kill President-elect Donald J. Trump.”

In February 2023, Fox News reported that Iran had renewed its threats against Trump and the others: Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps aerospace force, declared: “God willing, we are looking to kill Trump [and] Pompeo… and military commanders who issued the order should be killed.”

Even before that, Iran’s state-controlled Ahlul Bayt News Agency reported on Jan. 23, 2021, that the Supreme Leader’s official website “posted a photo-montage of former U.S. President Donald Trump playing golf under the shadow of a drone, vowing to avenge the assassination of Iran’s Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.”

Iran’s slain supreme leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in December 2020: “Revenge is certain.” He added: “The assassin of Soleimani and the one who ordered the murder should be punished. As an esteemed person said, Soleimani’s shoe is worth more than the assassin’s head and even decapitation of the assassin will not compensate for Soleimani’s shoe; but they did the wrong thing. They should be punished. The one who ordered and the assassin should know that they should be punished at any time possible.” That threat appears to be still on the table.

Trump was a favored Khamenei target even before Soleimani was killed. In February 2019, the Supreme Leader declared to a military gathering that “as long as America continues its wickedness, the Iranian nation will not abandon ‘Death to America.’ ‘Death to America’ means death to Trump.”

And this week, during Khamenei’s days-long funeral, one mourner expressed the perspective of the Iranian regime: “Why shouldn’t we kill the one who killed my imam and my leader? Trump’s killing is our duty.… Why is the most despicable man in the world still alive?” 

For his part, Trump said: “They had leaders, they’re gone. Then they had another set of leaders, they’re gone. 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 — it’s out all over the place. Because they’re scum. That’s the way they act and that’s the way they’ve done it for 47 years.”

Yes, it is. The Iranian regime hasn’t changed its character since 1979. It would be helpful if Trump bore that in mind.