- By Ajeet Kumar
- Wed, 21 Jan 2026 02:50 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
- Trump warns Iran: assassination means 'wipe them off earth'.
- Iran threatens US over targeting Supreme Leader Khamenei.
- Iran's FM warns of fierce, widespread regional confrontation.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that the US will wipe out Iran if the country assassinates him. "I have very firm instructions-- anything happens, they're going to wipe them off the face of this earth,” Trump said in an interview on NewsNation's “Katie Pavlich Tonight”.
Iran on Tuesday warned Trump not to take any action against the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, days after the US president called for an end to Khamenei's nearly 40-year reign. “Trump knows that if any hand of aggression is extended toward our leader, we not only cut that hand but also we will set fire to their world,” General Abolfazl Shekarchi, a spokesperson for Iran's armed forces, said.
Trump had previously said he's given his advisors instructions to obliterate Iran if the country is behind an assassination of him.
Iran's FM most direct threat to US
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Iran’s foreign minister issued the most direct threat yet against the United States after Tehran’s bloody crackdown on protesters, warning the Islamic Republic will be “firing back with everything we have if we come under renewed attack."
ALSO READ: What Is The Issue Between America And Iran? Know History, Reasons And Current Tensions
The comments by Abbas Araghchi, who saw his invitation to the World Economic Forum in Davos rescinded over the killings, comes as an American aircraft carrier group moves westward toward the Middle East from Asia. American fighter jets and other equipment appear to be moving in the Mideast after a major US military deployment in the Caribbean saw troops seize Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro.
Araghchi makes threat in column
Araghchi made the threat in an opinion article published by The Wall Street Journal. In it, the foreign minister contended “the violent phase of the unrest lasted less than 72 hours” and sought again to blame armed demonstrators for the violence. Videos that have slipped out of Iran despite an internet shutdown appear to show security forces repeatedly using live fire to target apparently unarmed protesters, something unaddressed by Araghchi.
“Unlike the restraint Iran showed in June 2025, our powerful armed forces have no qualms about firing back with everything we have if we come under renewed attack,” Araghchi wrote, referring to the 12-day war launched by Israel on Iran in June. “This isn’t a threat, but a reality I feel I need to convey explicitly, because as a diplomat and a veteran, I abhor war.”
He added: “An all-out confrontation will certainly be ferocious and drag on far, far longer than the fantasy timelines that Israel and its proxies are trying to peddle to the White House. It will certainly engulf the wider region and have an impact on ordinary people around the globe.”
(With inputs from agencies)