Iranian state television aired footage on Sunday that included a threat directed at US President Donald Trump, following his recent warning of potential military action against Iran’s leadership.
The footage showed a mourner at a ceremony for Iranian security personnel killed in recent unrest holding a placard with an image of Trump, referring to the assassination attempt he survived at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in 2024. Text in Farsi beneath the image read: "This time it will not miss the target".
The incident represents Tehran’s most direct threat against Trump to date, coming after his repeated warnings that the United States would strike Iran if it continued its crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Trump was the target of an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he was shot in the ear by a gunman identified as Thomas Crooks.
The footage was aired on the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network (IRINN), a state-controlled television channel. It was broadcast during a funeral ceremony in Tehran for more than 100 members of the security forces and others described by authorities as “martyrs” killed during recent demonstrations.
At the ceremony, attendees held banners reading “Death to America!” while others carried photographs of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The semiofficial Tasnim news agency, which is widely regarded as being close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, reported that the funeral marked the first in a series of state ceremonies planned for security personnel in the coming days, as cited by The Independent.
Rights groups outside Iran have said that more than 150 members of the security forces and government personnel have been killed during over two weeks of unrest
Iranian authorities have characterised the demonstrations as “riots” and accused protesters of carrying out “acts of terror”.
Iran linked to past plots and threats against Trump
Iran has previously been linked to assassination plots abroad, most often aimed at Iranian dissidents, with varying outcomes. Iranian officials have also repeatedly vowed to kill Trump following his order to assassinate General Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, in January 2020.
A video released in 2022 by Iranian state-linked media depicted a simulated assassination attempt on Trump at his Mar-a-Lago golf course ahead of the 2024 election.
The video resurfaced after the arrest of Ryan Routh, who was detained while allegedly attempting to take aim at Trump at the same golf course, as cited by the New York Post.
The US Justice Department has also said that in 2024 it disrupted an Iranian-directed plot to kill Trump, following the arrest of Farhad Shakeri, who court documents say was tasked by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps with carrying out the killing.
The current protests broke out in Iran on December 28 after the collapse of the rial, amid economic pressure linked to international sanctions imposed in part over the country’s nuclear programme.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi gave a different account in an interview with Fox News, saying the protests began peacefully and that authorities initially engaged with demonstrators. He said the unrest later turned violent after what he described as “terrorist elements led from outside” Iran became involved.
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