Donald Trump threatens launch of 1,000 missiles at Iran if he is targeted
On July 10‑11, 2026 former President Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that 1,000 missiles were armed, ready and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with “thousands more” to follow should Tehran attempt to assassinate him. He said he had given the Pentagon standing orders to “decimate and destroy all zones of Iran” for up to a year, and added a religious salutation.
Legal scholars noted that a sitting president cannot create a pre‑set automatic retaliation mechanism; succession would follow the 25th Amendment and the 1947 Presidential Succession Act, making Vice President JD Vance the commander‑in‑chief who could choose whether to act on Trump’s wishes. Experts also said U.S. intelligence had found no imminent Iranian plot to kill Trump.
Iran’s Supreme Leader’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, pledged revenge for the death of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during earlier U.S.–Israel strikes. The White House declined to comment on how it would handle any such orders. The statements came amid renewed clashes between U.S. and Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz and heightened rhetoric on both sides.