Trump Threatens 'One Year' of Missile Strikes on Iran If He's Assassinated

President Donald Trump said late Friday he has already given orders for the U.S. military to strike Iran with overwhelming force, for as long as a year, if the Iranian government carries out an assassination plot against him.

"1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat," Trump wrote on Truth Social, according to Newsweek. He added that "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."

Trump closed the post with "PRAISE BE TO ALLAH," an unusual sign-off for a threat aimed directly at Iran's government.

What triggered it

The post came after the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter, on a "fresh" plot to kill Trump. CNN separately reported that Israel shared intelligence with U.S. officials about a new Iranian assassination plan.

Neither outlet has published specifics on how the alleged plot would work, who is involved, or its timeline. CNN reported that U.S. agencies had not independently vetted or tracked the plan before Israel's warning arrived, meaning the threat has not been confirmed through American intelligence channels on its own.

The timing lines up with a separate demand from senior U.S. officials that Iran publicly declare the Strait of Hormuz open and safe for shipping, something Tehran has so far declined to do.

The history behind the threat

Iran has repeatedly said it intends to retaliate against Trump for ordering the January 2020 drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, the IRGC general who led the Quds Force. Those retaliation threats have escalated since renewed fighting between Israel, the U.S., and Iran earlier this year.

This is not the first alleged Iran-linked plot against Trump. The Justice Department unsealed an indictment in November 2024 accusing the IRGC of directing Afghan national Farhad Shakeri to assassinate Trump, ideally before the 2024 election. According to that indictment, if Shakeri could not act before the vote, the IRGC planned to wait until after it, on the assumption Trump would lose to Kamala Harris and have lighter Secret Service protection as a result.

In a separate case, federal prosecutors charged Pakistani national Asif Merchant, alleged to have ties to the IRGC, with traveling to the U.S. in 2024 to recruit hitmen to kill American political figures, including Trump. Prosecutors said Merchant had worked for the IRGC since late 2022 or early 2023 before his arrest that July.

Arie Perliger, an expert on terrorism and Middle East political violence, told Newsweek that Iranian assassination efforts on U.S. soil typically rely on outsourced intermediaries rather than direct IRGC operatives, a pattern consistent with both the Shakeri and Merchant cases.

What's actually confirmed, and what isn't

What's confirmed: Trump posted the threat himself, in his own words, late Friday night. What's alleged but unproven: the existence and details of any "fresh" plot this month. No U.S. agency has publicly confirmed the plot independently of Israel's tip, and no charges have been filed connected to it.

A reasonable skeptic could point out that Trump and his allies have an incentive to publicize Iranian threats, both to justify hawkish policy toward Tehran and to rally political support. Iran has a documented track record, through actual DOJ indictments, of plotting against Trump specifically, which makes dismissing the new reports outright equally unreasonable.

Neither Newsweek nor the outlets it cited, CNN and the Wall Street Journal, have reported that the White House or Israeli officials provided additional detail beyond what's summarized above. Newsweek said it contacted the White House and Israel's foreign ministry for comment and had not received a response as of publication.

What happens next depends on Tehran. No Iranian official has publicly responded to Trump's Truth Social post. The Strait of Hormuz demand remains unresolved, and no timeline has been set for when, or whether, Iran will address it.