The U.S. Central Command said on July 9 that it struck 90 Iranian military targets to degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping.
President Donald Trump said on July 11 that the U.S. military will launch attacks on Iran if the regime attempts to assassinate him. Trump’s comments come after calls for his death erupted at the funeral of slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In a Truth Social post, Trump warned that 1,000 missiles were “locked and loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow” if the Iranian regime were to kill him.
“Orders have already been given, and the U.S. Military is ready, willing, and able, for a one-year period of time, subject to extension, to completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran,” he wrote.
The warning came as Iran buried Khamenei on July 10, capping a week of funeral processions that drew a huge crowd to the country’s holiest shrine, some of whom carried banners that read, “We Will Kill Trump.”
Khamenei was killed in a U.S.–Israeli airstrike aimed at dismantling Iran’s nuclear weapons on Feb. 28, sparking a months-long conflict that disrupted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz as Iran retaliated. His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was later named his successor by the Iranian Assembly.
Mojtaba has vowed to avenge his father’s death, writing in a July 10 post: “This vengeance is what our nation is demanding, and this must definitely be done.”
Trump had earlier warned that he was a top target for Iran and said he had issued instructions to the U.S. military in the event he was targeted by the Iranian regime.
“I’ve been on their list for a long time. That’s what we’re dealing with,” the president told The New York Post on July 10. “The only thing is, I’ve left instructions—if anything happens, to just literally bomb them at levels that they’ve never seen before.”
The two nations have traded missile strikes over the past few days after the United States accused Iran of violating the ceasefire by attacking three ships in the Strait of Hormuz on July 7. The U.S. Department of the Treasury also revoked Iran’s authorization to sell oil the same day.
