Iran raised global alarm bells Wednesday after state-run television aired a blood-stained photo of President Trump during the 2024 Butler, Pennsylvania assassination attempt — paired with a stark warning in Farsi: “This time it will not miss the target.”
The broadcast, confirmed by Agence France-Presse, is Tehran’s most explicit threat yet. It comes as nationwide protests inside Iran intensify and the regime lashes out at Washington for condemning its deadly crackdown.
US intelligence officials privately called the message “a direct escalation,” according to a senior national security source who spoke on background. “You don’t put something like that on state TV unless you want the world to hear it,” the official said. “It’s a threat. Plain and simple.”
A Threat Broadcast to Millions
The image, captured from a pro-government rally in Iran, shows Trump with blood on his face moments after he survived a near-fatal shot to the head in 2024. That attack was carried out by 20-year-old gunman Thomas Crooks, whose bullet tore through Trump’s right ear as Secret Service agents rushed him from the stage.
Despite widespread internet blackouts meant to silence anti-government demonstrations, Iran allowed pro-regime rallies to broadcast freely. The messaging was unmistakable: chants of “Death to America,” posters backing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the now-infamous image of Trump.
One Iranian watcher and human-rights advocate in Europe told us, “The regime sends signals through visuals. They know the world is watching. They want confrontation.”
Iran’s History of Targeting Trump
The Wednesday broadcast wasn’t the first time Tehran threatened Trump by name. In 2022, the regime posted a dramatic animated video depicting an attack on Trump at his Mar-a-Lago golf course. That video resurfaced after authorities arrested Ryan Routh, the man accused of attempting to assassinate Trump at the same location before the 2024 election.
Federal officials say Iranian operatives have attempted the real thing. In 2024, the Justice Department charged Farhad Shakeri, who prosecutors say was hired by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps to kill Trump in retaliation for the US drone strike on Qasem Soleimani in 2020.
A former FBI counterterror official told us, “They’ve tried before. They’ll try again. That’s the part people need to take seriously.”
Iran on the Brink
The threat comes as Iran faces its largest uprising in decades. Protests erupted Dec. 28 over inflation, food shortages, and accusations of state corruption. They have since evolved into a nationwide revolt against the regime itself.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency, based in the United States, estimates more than 2,500 civilians have been killed. Thousands more have been detained as security forces carry out mass raids, street beatings, and what activists describe as “execution-line justice.”
In Tehran, students burned American flags as regime supporters marched in counter-rallies, hoping to project strength amid collapsing public control.
A protester from Shiraz, reached through encrypted messaging, said, “We know the government is desperate when it talks about killing foreign leaders. They cannot stop the people here, so they threaten outside enemies.”
Washington Responds
President Trump has issued stern warnings, signaling that military action could be possible if Iran continues slaughtering protesters. “The world is watching,” he said days earlier. “And the United States will act.”
Tehran responded with a threat of its own: any US strike would trigger attacks on American troops across the Middle East — and potentially against Israel.
A Pentagon official said the situation is now “one misstep away from a regional firestorm.”
A Dangerous New Phase
While Iran has long relied on anti-American rhetoric, analysts say this televised death threat targeting a sitting US president marks a dangerous shift.
“It’s psychological warfare,” said a Middle East analyst in Washington. “But it’s also testing boundaries. The regime wants to know how far it can go.”
As protests grow, Iran’s leaders may see external conflict as a way to distract from internal collapse — a strategy that could put American forces, and America’s president, directly in the crosshairs.
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That means: Irans Ayatollah Komenie and his Mullahs should be annihilated. David.
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Evil Iran been threatening all Americans for decades… do Iranians a favor and take out the ayatollahs…
So what should the US do with a regime that threatens assignations against a sitting US President public ally?
Do these people really want to live in constant panic until they stop breathing ? If something should happen to President Trump, not only the U.S. military, but the Mossad will be after them. Full stop.