President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on July 10, 2026, that 1,000 missiles were "locked and loaded" targeting Iran. He warned thousands more would follow if Iran attempted or succeeded in assassinating him. Trump declared, "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" [1, 2].
The threats came days after Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was buried on July 11, 2026, following his killing in an attack earlier that year. At the funeral, public calls for Trump’s assassination were reportedly made[ s1,s2,s3,s4,s5].
Israeli intelligence shared fresh information with the US in early July 2026 about a specific Iranian plot to assassinate Trump. Officials from the Biden administration also briefed Trump during the 2024 election on real, specific threats from Iran against his life [3, 4, 5, 2, 6, 7].
As a security precaution after the NATO summit in Turkey, Trump switched Air Force One planes at a British military base earlier in July 2026, reportedly to evade assassination attempts linked to Iran [3, 4, 7].
Trump publicly said, "I'm No. 1 on the kill list for Iran," and confirmed standing instructions to retaliate if an attempt succeeds [3, 4, 7]. Despite the threats, he said the US agreed to continue ceasefire talks with Iran at Tehran’s request. However, he stated the ceasefire was effectively over following recent clashes near the Strait of Hormuz earlier in July 2026 [2, 6].
Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf responded by saying "Tehran would never surrender to the US" [2].
The US military’s retaliatory readiness was confirmed to last at least one year, with the possibility of extension [1, 5, 2, 8, 6, 7].
