President Trump has said he took out Ayatollah Khamenei before the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader was able to assassinate him
“I got him before he got me,” Trump told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl in a phone call late Sunday.
“They tried twice,” he said of previous attempts on his life. “Well, I got him first.”
Trump also claimed Saturday’s attack on the regime was “so successful, it knocked out most of the candidates” who would have been expected to succeed Khamenei.
“It’s not going to be anybody that we were thinking of because they’re all dead,” Trump predicted of the likely next leader.
The president also said that the operation could drag on for four or five more weeks, with more American deaths.
“It’s war and you have casualties in war,” he said, with four US military members already confirmed dead.
Iran has been threatening to assassinate Trump since 2020, in response to the killing of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani.
And in June last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Iran orchestrated two failed assassination attempts on Trump in 2024.
Netanyahu was probed on the claim before adding: “Through proxies, yes. Through their intel, yes. They want to kill him.”
An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps official ordered Farhad Shakeri to stalk and assassinate Trump in the final weeks of the 2024 campaign.
Shakeri, who previously spent time in US prisons for robbery, told the FBI that an IRGC contact told him to create a plan within 7 days to surveil and kill Trump, according to a criminal compliant unsealed in a Manhattan federal court.
If Shakeri failed to meet the deadline, then the hit would’ve been postponed as the official believed it would have been easier to kill Trump if he lost the election.
Iran dismissed suggestions it was involved in attempts to assassinate US officials.
But, the regime has previously shared a clip that promoted a drone attack on Trump at his Mar-a-Lago golf course in a bid to avenge Soleimani’s death.
In the video, a robotic system piloted by Iranian operatives focuses in on Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo while they are on the course.
And, a text message from an Iranian operator is sent, which says: “Soleimani’s murderer and the one who gave the order will pay the price.”
The Iranian agents take out both men and the clip ends with the words: “Revenge is Definite.”
Trump revealed he left “very firm instructions” for Iran to be blown up if ever the regime carried out its threat.
“Anything ever happens, the whole country is going to get blown up,” he told NewsNation in January.
“I would absolutely hit them so hard. But I have very firm instructions.”
