'They Would Be Obliterated': Trump Says He Left 'Instructions' For US Officials If Iran Assassinates Him

Last Updated:February 05, 2025, 08:33 IST

Trump signed an executive order calling for the US government to impose maximum pressure on Iran over allegations that the latter is trying to develop nuclear weapons.

US President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington. (Reuters)

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he has given instructions to his advisers to obliterate Iran in case he is assassinated by Tehran. “I’ve left instructions if they do it, they get obliterated, there won’t be anything left," he said.

“That would be a terrible thing for them to do, not because of me. If they did that, they would be obliterated. That would be the end," he said. Trump made the remarks as he was signing an executive order calling for the US government to re-exert “maximum pressure" on Iran, although he hoped the policy would not used too much.

Last year, the US Justice Department had announced that an Iranian plot to kill Trump before the presidential election had been thwarted. The department alleged Iranian officials had instructed Farhad Shakeri, 51, in September to focus on surveilling and ultimately assassinating Trump. Shakeri is still at large in Iran.

As he signed the memo, Trump described it as very tough and said he was “torn" on whether to make the move. The US President said he would love to make a deal with Iran to improve bilateral relations, but added that Tehran should not develop a nuclear weapon. “They cannot have a nuclear weapon and if I think that they will have a nuclear weapon … I think that’s going to be very unfortunate for them," he said.

Trump Vows To Drive Iranian Oil Exports To ‘Zero’

Trump’s executive order directs the Treasury Secretary to impose “maximum economic pressure" on Iran, including sanctions and enforcement mechanisms on those violating existing sanctions. It also directs the Treasury and State Department to implement a campaign aimed at “driving Iran’s oil exports to zero."

“We will once again enforce the most aggressive possible sanctions, drive Iranian oil exports to zero, and diminish the regime’s capacity to fund terror throughout the region and the world," he said during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The reinstatement of strict sanctions on Iran follows Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in 2018 as talks failed during the former’s first term, following which he imposed a harsh snapback of sanctions on Tehran, driving its oil exports to near-zero. These exports rose under Joe Biden’s tenure as Iran succeeded in evading sanctions.

Trump has accused Biden of failing to rigorously enforce oil-export sanctions, which Trump says emboldened Tehran by allowing it to sell oil to fund a nuclear weapons program and armed militias in the Middle East.

“They’re (Iran) not weak and very strong right now. And we’re not, we’re not going to allow them to have a nuclear weapon. Iran was in big trouble when I left. They were broke. They didn’t have money for Hamas. They didn’t have any money for Hezbollah. You had no problem. October 7th could have never happened. When I left October 7th could have never happened," he said after a meeting with Netanyahu at the White House.

“They became very strong, very fast. They sold massive amounts of oil to China and everybody else who would not buy the oil when I was president because we said, ‘don’t buy the oil.’ And they became very rich very quickly. But they’re not weak. They are not weak. Doesn’t mean they won’t be weak. But you know what? We just don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon," he added.

Meanwhile, the President also signed executive orders withdrawing the United States from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), and cut funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)

News world 'They Would Be Obliterated': Trump Says He Left 'Instructions' For US Officials If Iran Assassinates Him