Since The U.S.'s January 2020 Killing Of IRGC Qods Force Commander Qassem Soleimani, Iranian Regime Officials Have Reiterated Their Intent To Assassinate Trump In Retribution – But Today, Iran Denies Any Connection To The July 13 Assassination Attempt Against Him

On July 16, 2024, three days after the attempted assassination of former president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, CNN revealed that the Secret Service had recently boosted security for Trump because of intelligence on Iranian regime plans to assassinate him.[1] The assassination would presumably be to avenge the killing of IRGC Qods Force commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani in an American airstrike near Baghdad in January 2020, during the Trump presidency.

Photo from an IRGC-affiliated Telegram channel. The channel claimed that one of the bullets hit Donald Trump in the chest but that he was not harmed because of his bulletproof vest. (Source: Eitaa.com/s/sepahghods_ir/12813)

The next day, July 17, senior members of the Iranian diplomatic corps vehemently denied Iranian involvement in the assassination attempt. Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani stressed to CNN's Fareed Zakaria in an interview, in which Zakaria asked whether the alleged Iranian assassination plot was in response to the killing of Soleimani: "I told you explicitly that we would resort to legal and judicial procedures and frameworks at the domestic level and international level in order to bring the perpetrators and military advisers of General Soleimani’s assassination to justice." Adding that "we will only resort to Iranian and international legal and judicial procedures," he said that "until now, we have done it, and this is our right and of course we will continue it. And the Americans openly said that, that they assassinated the senior Iranian military commander. So it is our natural right in order to follow this issue, and those who are accused in this case, they should be brought to justice in a – in a just court."[2]

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Qan'ani emphasized: "Iran is determined to bring Trump to justice for his direct role in the murder of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, but denies any involvement in the recent attack or any such intention." The Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations said in a statement, "From the perspective of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Trump is a criminal who must be prosecuted and punished in a court of law for ordering the assassination of General Soleimani. Iran has chosen the legal path to bring him to justice."[3]

However, in total contradiction to the Iranian diplomats' statements regarding limiting Iranian retaliatory action to the "legal path," Iranian regime officials and regime mouthpieces have been emphasizing, since Soleimani's killing, and in countless explicit statements and many overt videos, their desire and intention to assassinate Trump in retaliation for his ordering of the killing of Soleimani, in an "eye for an eye" operation. These officials include Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, IRGC commander Hossein Salami, IRGC Air Force commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh, Khamenei senior advisor Kamal Kharrazi, and the editor of the regime mouthpiece Kayhan, Hossein Shariatmadari, among others.

Iranian officials reiterated that the passage of time since Soleimani's killing "has not extinguished the [coming] vengeance against the murderers of Soleimani," and that Trump needs to know that "the IRGC will never relinquish the 'Soleimani revenge.'" Shariatmadari had written in 2020 about assassinating Trump and his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, saying that "vengeance, on American soil, against those who commit crimes is not a difficult mission." In January 2022, the Supreme Leader's website posted an animation video depicting the assassination of Trump at his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago. An earlier video, in 2020, posted by the Iranian IRGC-affiliated news agency Fars, showed Trump being shot by a concealed assassin during a public speech. Yet another video, in 2023, shared on a IRGC-affiliated Telegram channel, promised that Trump would be assassinated "soon."

This report will review statements and videos by Iranian regime officials and regime mouthpieces about the regime's determination to assassinate Trump:

Khamenei In Speech: "Those Who Killed Him [Soleimani] – Trump And His Ilk... Will Be Lost"; Video On Website Of Supreme Leader Khamenei Depicts Assassination Of Trump – January 2022

Marking the second anniversary of Soleimani's killing on January 2, 2022, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said to Soleimani's family: "The martyr Soleimani is immortal. He lives forever. Those who killed him – Trump and his ilk – are in the dustbin of history and will be forgotten by history. Such is the martyr, and the enemies will perish. Of course, after they recompense for it, they will be lost."[4]

Later that month, on January 12, 2022, Khamenei's website posted a video depicting an Iranian targeted killing of Trump. In it, a small unmanned ground vehicle approaches a golf course at Mar-a-Lago, as the compound's security cameras are disabled from a control room elsewhere. As the vehicle enters the golf course and zeroes in on Trump as he swings, the control room receives an order from Khamenei to kill Trump. After sending a text message to Trump and his fellow golfers stating "Soleimani's murderer and the one who gave the order will pay the price," a missile is launched at Trump. The film ends with the onscreen text, "Revenge is definite."

To view this clip on MEMRI TV, click here or below:

IRGC Commander Salami: "The Americans Must Know That We Will Harm Those Who Were Directly And Indirectly Involved In The Assassination Of This Great Man" – September 2020

IRGC commander Hossein Salami said on September 19, 2020: "You think we will attack the [U.S.] Ambassador to South Africa as retribution for the blood of our martyred brother [Soleimani]? We target those who were directly and indirectly involved in the killing of this great man, and you should know that anyone who was involved in this incident will be targeted, and that this is a serious message."[5]

IRGC Air Force Commander Hajizadeh: "Inshallah, We Can Kill Trump, Pompeo, [CENTCOM Commander] McKenzie And The Military Commanders Who Ordered" Soleimani's Killing – February 2022

Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC Air Force, told the Iranian broadcasting authority IRIB in an interview that aired February 25, 2023: "Inshallah, we can kill Trump, Pompeo, [CENTCOM commander Kenneth F.] McKenzie, and the military commanders who ordered [Soleimani's killing]."[6]

Top Khamenei Advisor Kamal Kharrazi: "'Eye For An Eye' For  Criminals Like Trump and Pompeo" – March 2023

Supreme Leader Khamenei senior advisor Kamal Kharrazi, who chairs the Strategic Foreign Relations Council, said in an interview with Lebanese media on March 22, 2023: "With regard to the murderers of the martyr Soleimani, the intention is an 'eye for an eye' for criminals like Trump and Pompeo. It is not yet clear how, when, and in what form [Iran] will avenge [Soleimani]. Keep [these] criminals under this psychological pressure."[7]

Hossein Shariatmadari, Kayhan Editor: "It Is One Of The IRGC's Main Goals That By The End Of [Trump's] His Dirty And Degraded Life, It Will Take Personal Revenge Against The Perpetrators Of The Assassination Of The Commander Of Our Hearts [Soleimani], Whether He [Trump] Is President Or Not!" –   September 2020

Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor of the regime mouthpiece Kayhan, wrote about President Trump in a September 19, 2020 article: "Mr. Trump, as the assassin of our martyred commander, Hajj Qassem Soleimani, must be certain that it is one of the IRGC's main goals that by the end of his dirty and degraded life, it will take personal revenge against the perpetrators of the assassination of the commander of our hearts [Soleimani], whether he [Trump] is president or not! He himself has acknowledged that he is the murderer of the martyr commander, and knows that the IRGC will never relinquish [its vengeance] for the blood of the martyr Soleimani."[8]

IRGC-Affiliated Telegram Channel: Trump Assassination "Coming Soon" – January 2023

On January 9, 2023, the IRGC-affiliated "SEPAHCYBERY" channel on Telegram shared an animation video depicting a crime board for Soleimani's killing, with photos of Trump and top U.S. defense officials. It also showed footage of these officials, images  of guns, explosives, and poison, and footage and images from crime scenes. It concluded with onscreen text stating: "The perpetrators of general Soleimani martyrdom will be punished for their actions. We will determine how and when to punish. Coming soon..."

To view this clip on MEMRI TV, click here or below:

Fars News Agency: "The Supreme Leader's Repeated Emphasis On [The Need] For Retribution Against The Murderers Of The Martyr Soleimani, As Well As The Statements Of IRGC Chief [Hossein Salami] On This Matter, Are A Strategy And An Aspiration" – January 2022

An editorial by the IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency on January 17, 2022 said: "The repeated emphasis by the Supreme Leader on [the need] for retribution against the martyr Soleimani's murderers, as well as the statements of IRGC chief [Hossein Salami] on this matter, are a strategy and an aspiration. They show that the passage of time has not extinguished the [coming] vengeance against the murderers of the commander of our hearts [Soleimani]."[9]

Earlier, on January 6, 2020, Fars published a video depicting President Trump being assassinated during a speech about the killing of Soleimani, by an armed gunman concealed in an air vent. The video shows President Trump's security detail jumping to shield him after he is shot several times, as chaos spreads through the audience.

To view this clip on MEMRI TV, click here or below:

Regime Mouthpiece Kayhan: "Rushdie Was Taken Out... Trump And Pompeo Are Next" – August 2022

The front page of Kayhan read on August 14, 2022: "Salman Rushdie was taken out by God's vengeance; Trump and Pompeo are next. The fact that Salman Rushdie was under heavy guard by British and American forces for 34 years, yet was attacked in public, makes Trump and Pompeo, who are carefully guarded by security forces for fear of Iran's vengeance, very worried on this matter.

"The attack on Rushdie showed that vengeance, on American soil, against those who commit crimes is not a difficult mission. After [this attack], Trump and Pompeo are feeling even more threatened. Since Iranian authorities have warned again and again that the primary perpetrators of Soleimani's assassination will pay for their crimes and must be brought to justice, Trump and the other perpetrators of the assassination have been living in fear for the past three years, and do not even dare to travel outside America."[10]