US President Donald Trump said Iran had twice attempted to assassinate him but failed, and he also weighed in on who could lead Iran after the death of its supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.
The head of the White House said this during a conversation with ABC News journalist Jonathan Karl.
“During another phone call, President Trump told me this about the death of Ayatollah Khamenei: 'I killed him (Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — ed.) before he killed me. They (Iran — ed.) tried twice. Well, I killed him first,'” Karl wrote.
The journalist added that, according to American intelligence, a conspiracy to assassinate Trump in 2024 did indeed exist.
Karl also asked Trump who would lead Iran after the death of its supreme leader Ali Khamenei. According to the journalist, the American leader's answer “was interesting.”
“He said the attack was so successful that it took out most of the candidates. He told me it wouldn't be anyone we thought of because they were all dead,” the journalist told ABC News.
Regarding the duration of the “major combat operation,” the White House president noted that, in his opinion, “it will be a four- to five-week operation,” adding that “it could be shorter, but he is prepared for a longer war.”
In addition, according to the journalist, when asked about the deaths of three American soldiers during a joint US-Israeli operation against Iran, Trump replied that “this is war, and in war there are casualties.”
“He was struck by the fact that, given all the operations he conducted as president in Venezuela, last summer in Iran and this one, the total number of American casualties is three people,” Karl added.
Israeli and US military operation against Iran
On February 28, Israel attacked the Iranian capital, Tehran. US President Donald Trump later said that the US military had launched a “major combat operation” against Iran to “eliminate the imminent threat posed by the Iranian regime”. He accused the Iranian regime of “funding and training” militants in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Hamas in Palestine. According to him, the aim of the military operation is to “destroy Iran's missile industry and navy” and “ensure that it cannot destabilise the world”.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had launched missiles and drones towards Israel, and also attacked US military bases in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Amid the US military operation against Iran, French President Emmanuel Macron said that Paris is calling for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council.
The European Union said it reaffirmed its “unwavering commitment to ensuring regional security and stability” in the Middle East.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was fair to give the Iranians a chance to get rid of “the terrorist regime and guarantee the security of all peoples who have suffered from attacks from Iran.”
On February 28, Trump tweeted that Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was dead. The information was later confirmed by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
On March 1, the IRGC announced that it was launching “the most devastating offensive operation in the history of the Islamic Republic” against Israel and “American terrorist bases.” Trump called on the Iranian regime to abandon these plans and threatened to strike “a very strong blow” in response.
On the same day, March 1, Iran appointed an interim supreme leader after the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He was a senior cleric, Alireza Arafi.
The pro-Iranian group Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel on the night of March 2, its first since a ceasefire in November 2024. Its representatives called it revenge for the assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. In response, the IDF struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.