Trump threatens to 'decimate' Iran after chants for his death at Khamenei funeral

US President Donald Trump issued a fiery threat against Iran on Saturday, posting on Truth Social that 1,000 missiles are “locked and loaded” and ready to strike, with thousands more to follow if Iran attempts to assassinate him. He said orders have been given for the US military to “completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran” over a one-year period if Tehran acts on its threats.

The post came after chants calling for Trump's death were heard at the funeral of slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Earlier in the week, Israel warned the US of a new, highly specific Iranian plot to assassinate Trump, according to US media reports. CNN and The Wall Street Journal confirmed the intelligence, which described an active conspiracy. Tehran has vowed revenge since Trump ordered the 2020 drone strike that killed top general Qassem Soleimani.

The Secret Service reportedly requested that Trump switch planes upon departing the NATO summit in Turkiye earlier this week due to the threat.

Despite his bellicose rhetoric and insistence that the provisional ceasefire with Iran is over following Iranian attacks on Qatari and Saudi tankers near the Strait of Hormuz and subsequent US airstrikes, Trump said talks on a peace deal are continuing. “The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue ‘talks.’ We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!” he wrote.

In response, Iran's lead negotiator and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf stated that Tehran will never surrender. He emphasised that Iran is fully prepared for full-scale defence if Washington backs out of the Pakistani-brokered memorandum of understanding. “This conflict will never end with Iran’s surrender,” Ghalibaf said.

Behind the scenes, diplomatic efforts persist. Qatari mediators have travelled to Tehran, and Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is in Muscat, Oman, for talks on security in the Strait of Hormuz. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to urge restraint.

Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed, reporting from Tehran, noted a flurry of diplomatic activity but deep scepticism among Iranian officials about US intentions. Correspondent Kimberly Halkett in Washington said the US insists on nuclear limits and the surrender of Iran’s nuclear material for any deal, and while conversations have been productive, an ultimatum has been issued.