Trump warns of major Iran strikes if Tehran targets him

Donald Trump said he had ordered the U.S. military to be ready to launch major strikes against Iran if Tehran carries out or even attempts to assassinate him. If Trump were killed, JD Vance would inherit the presidency, and if Trump were incapacitated, the 25th Amendment would control whether the vice president became acting president.

Israel shared information with Washington that Iran had devised a new plan to target Trump, but two U.S. sources said recent American assessments found no evidence of a new, specific operational plot. The assessments found a steady stream of chatter and threats among Iranian actors, with the warning reflecting hardline sentiment in Tehran rather than a detailed attack plan.

On July 10, he said he was “number one on the kill list for Iran.” Under the Constitution, any retaliation would still require lawful authority through the chain of command, with the order transmitted from the president or acting president into the Pentagon and constrained by the rules of armed conflict.

The U.S.-Iran confrontation intensified after renewed attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and U.S. retaliatory strikes. Trump said the U.S.-Iran ceasefire or memorandum of understanding was “over.” On July 9, the Treasury Department sanctioned a key financier for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Iran’s shadow exchange houses, part of a broader campaign against Iranian financial and petroleum networks.

He survived two domestic assassination attempts during the 2024 campaign, including the July 13 shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, where one person was killed and three were wounded, including Trump. Funeral crowds in Tehran displayed signs that read “We Will Kill Trump.”