Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump has promised to annihilate Iran’s oppressive regime if they attempt to come for his life.

“If they do ‘assassinate President Trump,’ which is always a possibility, I hope that America obliterates Iran, wipes it off the face of the Earth,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account alongside a clip of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent address to Congress.

“If that does not happen, American Leaders will be considered ‘gutless’ cowards!” he added.

Trump’s comments on Thursday follow his own assassination attempt by 20-year-old Thomas Crooks at a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13. The tragic shooting resulted in one fatality and two injuries, with Trump sustaining a minor ear injury. While no direct connection has been established, US authorities were reportedly aware beforehand of Iranian assassination plots against the former president.

While in office, Trump took a hardline stance against Iran by withdrawing in 2018 from the disastrous Obama-era JCPOA nuclear deal and eliminating top IRGC commander Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike in 2020.

Since Soleimani’s death, Iranian officials have repeatedly threatened retaliation. A now deleted video at the time released by Supreme Ayatollah Khamenei’s office depicted a simulated assassination attempt on Trump by IRGC forces using robotic technology.

Soleimani’s successor Ismail Qaani issued a direct threat in 2023 during a memorial anniversary event for the fallen terrorist.

“The American agents involved in the assassination of Martyr Soleimani should learn the secretive lifestyle of Salman Rushdie because the Iranian regime will avenge the unjustly shed blood of Martyr Soleimani,” Qaani said.

Salman Rushdie is a British author who became a target of Iran’s tyrannical regime when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for his death in 1989. Despite years of relative calm, Rushdie fell victim to a brutal Iranian attack in 2022, resulting in the loss of sight in one eye and the use of one hand.