Assassin Stopped—Bigger Plot Looms

A public figure speaking at a podium during a press conference

As fresh evidence of Iranian assassination plots against President Trump piles up, global critics now attack his vow to hit back harder than ever if Tehran’s killers succeed.

Story Snapshot

Federal agents stopped an Iranian-trained hitman sent to murder top U.S. leaders, including Trump.
Israel shared new intelligence that Iran is again plotting to assassinate President Trump.
Trump says if Iran kills him, the U.S. will bomb regime targets “at levels they’ve never seen.”
Human rights groups condemn Trump’s warning as a threat of “war crimes” and “atrocity crimes.”

Iranian assassination plots against Trump: what we now know

Justice Department prosecutors say an Iranian government operative came to the United States to arrange political assassinations for Tehran. The convicted man, Asif Merchant, trained with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and admitted under oath that he was sent here to recruit “mafia” members to kill one of three senior U.S. officials. Law enforcement stopped him after sting meetings in New York, where undercover officers posed as hitmen and received cash to start the plot. Merchant now faces life in prison for terrorism and murder-for-hire.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) testimony shows Merchant believed Iran was behind plans to kill Trump. An FBI special agent described how Merchant saw news of an earlier plot and said, “That’s the same thing he was sent here to do.” The criminal case fits a wider pattern: U.S. data shows foreign and domestic plots against public officials have surged in recent years as political violence rises. For Trump supporters, these facts confirm that Iran’s regime is not just chanting “Death to America” — it is actively trying to make it real.

Fresh Israeli intelligence and Trump’s “bomb them” instructions

Israeli intelligence services recently warned Washington that Iran has developed a new, specific plan to assassinate President Trump. Reports say Israel shared details of Iranian planning with U.S. officials, showing Tehran may still be hunting Trump even after earlier plots failed. Trump told reporters he is “on every single one of their lists” and “number one on the kill list for Iran,” underscoring how often American intelligence has briefed him on these threats. Israel’s warning reinforces that this is not campaign drama but an ongoing national security danger.

In response, Trump has laid down a clear red line: if Iran kills him, the United States will bomb the regime “at levels they’ve never seen.” According to reporting, Trump told advisers and The Washington Post that he has left instructions for overwhelming strikes on Iranian targets if he is assassinated. He framed this stance by saying of Iran’s leaders, “I got him before he got me,” tying his orders in Iran to earlier attempts on his own life. Many conservatives see this as basic deterrence: you do not reward terrorists; you make them fear the cost.

Rights groups blast Trump’s threats, but ignore the assassination evidence

Amnesty International has launched a loud campaign against Trump’s warning, calling his words “apocalyptic threats” and demanding “urgent global action” to stop supposed atrocity crimes. The group quotes his vow that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran kills him and highlights his talk of “complete demolition” of power plants and bridges inside Iran. Amnesty’s secretary general claims such strikes, if they hit civilians or civilian infrastructure, would break international humanitarian law that bans direct attacks on non-military targets.

More than 200 organizations signed a joint letter led by Amnesty, accusing Trump of threatening “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” and urging foreign governments to constrain the United States. Their statement says recent American and Israeli strikes in Iran already damaged factories and bridges and injured civilians, and warns that wider attacks could bring “catastrophic consequences for over 90 million people.” Yet these groups do not present detailed forensic proof showing those prior strikes were unlawful under the rules of war; they offer mostly legal labels and moral outrage.

The gap between security facts and global outrage

While human rights critics focus on Trump’s rhetoric, they largely ignore the hard evidence that Iran’s regime has tried to kill him. Amnesty’s campaign does not seriously engage the Justice Department complaint naming Farad Shakari, an Iranian man accused of recruiting New York City contacts to surveil and potentially assassinate Trump during the campaign. It also does not address the federal jury verdict against Merchant, a trained Iranian agent, or the FBI testimony that he believed Iran was behind the Trump plot. This silence leaves many Americans feeling that global activists care more about slogans than about foreign terrorists hunting our leaders.

Trump says he left instructions to bomb Iran if he is assassinated

•Trump told The Post he has “left instructions” to retaliate if Iran succeeds in any plot to kill him.
•He said the response would be bombing “at levels that they’ve never seen before.”
•Trump said Iran has… pic.twitter.com/jzx6AS5kdU

— Caktus Jxck🌵 (@CaktusJxck) July 10, 2026

Iran’s foreign minister publicly denies that Tehran ordered any assassination plot against Trump and rejects the Justice Department charges. That state-level denial gives global critics a talking point, but it clashes with U.S. court records, intelligence briefings, and Israeli reporting that all point toward Iranian handprints on the threats. For constitutional patriots, the stakes are clear: if hostile regimes can send killers after an American president and face no real fear of payback, then deterrence breaks down, inviting more attacks on our leaders, our troops, and our allies.