US President Donald Trump said he had left instructions for a massive military response if Iran were to assassinate him, saying Tehran had targeted him for years following his decision to order the 2020 killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.
In an interview with the New York Post published on Friday, Trump said he had prepared contingency instructions in the event of his death.
"I've been on their list for a long time. That's what we're dealing with," Trump said.
"The only thing is, I've left instructions — if anything happens, to just literally bomb them at levels that they've never seen before," he said.
Trump added that Iran had wanted him dead for years. "I hope you'll miss me," he said.
His remarks came after banners calling for Trump's killing were displayed during funeral ceremonies for Iran's slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to media reports.
Trump has long been a target of Iranian threats following his order to kill General Qassem Soleimani in a US drone strike in Iraq in January 2020. Iran's leadership vowed revenge after the strike and has repeatedly accused Washington of responsibility for Soleimani's death.
Trump's comments also followed a Wall Street Journal report that Israel had recently shared intelligence with the United States about an alleged new Iranian plot to assassinate the US president. Trump, however, told the New York Post that Israel had "come up with nothing" new and said the threat remained unchanged.
Speaking to reporters at the NATO summit in Ankara earlier this week, Trump said, "They want to take out the US leader — me," adding that he believed he remained on Iran's target list.
The New York Times reported that the US Secret Service advised Trump to use an older Air Force One aircraft for his return from the summit because it offered more established security capabilities than a newer presidential aircraft, although Trump denied that the change was driven by security concerns.
