President Donald Trump threatened to blow the nation of Iran up if the country’s government did not stop taunting and threatening him amid growing unrest.
In a clip of his Tuesday evening interview on NewsNation’s Katie Pavlich Tonight released ahead of time, Trump was asked what his response was to what Pavlich described as taunts and threats issued by Iranian leadership aimed at the president.
“Well, they shouldn’t be doing it, but I’ve left notification that if anything ever happens, the whole country’s going to get blown up,” Trump responded.
Taking a moment to criticize his predecessor, President Joe Biden, for not saying anything about the Iranian regime, he then said, “A president has to defend a president. If I were here, and they were making that threat to somebody—not even a president, but somebody, like they did with me—I would absolutely hit them so hard.”
“But I have very firm instructions,“ he continued. “Anything happens, they’re gonna wipe ’em off the face of this Earth.”
Talking about his other geopolitical ambitions, including seizing control of Greenland, Trump argued that controlling the autonomous Danish territory is crucial in order to ensure the effectiveness of his so-called "Golden Dome" defense shield, telling Pavlich, “Having Greenland makes it a much more effective golden dome.”
“So you’re saying Greenland is essential for the security of the United States and the free Western world?” Pavlich asked him. “That’s correct,” Trump replied, adding, “And even beyond missile defense, it is so important for the golden dome, it’s so important for just national, and actually international security.”
The president also made reference to top-secret weapons in his possession, telling Pavlich, “We have weapons that nobody knows about. It’s probably good not to talk about it, but we have some amazing weapons,” in reference to his attack on Venezuela and the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro.
Trump has previously said that if Iran were to follow through on its threats to target U.S. military or commercial bases, “we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before” with a “very, very powerful force.”
When asked by a CNN reporter earlier this month if he thought the country took his threats seriously, Trump dismissed the question as stupid, arguing that Iran has “been through it for years with me” and citing the killings of Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qasem Soleimani and ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as proof.
“I think so. Don’t you think so, CNN? Don’t you think so? Wouldn’t you say that they probably do at this point? After going through it for years with me, being hit—Soleimani, al-Baghdadi—the Iran nuclear threat wiped out. Don’t you think?” he said, referring to the strikes he launched on three nuclear sites in Iran last June.
The president has expressed support for anti-government protesters in Iran, going so far as to encourage them to take over national institutions and assuring them that help is on the way as concerns mount about crackdowns on protesters, including arrests and unlawful killings.
“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY,” he wrote in a Jan. 13 Truth Social post.
He ended the post with “MIGA!!!,” or “Make Iran Great Again.”
One day later, he told reporters that he had been notified that Iran had stopped killing protestors and that there were no plans for further executions, providing no source for his claims.
The Iranian government responded to Trump’s threats with threats of their own, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying, “We are not looking for war, but we are prepared for war.” He added, “We are also ready for negotiations, but negotiations that are fair, with equal rights and mutual respect.”
The country’s Guardian Council also condemned the “insult and baseless rhetoric of the criminal and foolish” of Trump, and stressed that any transgression against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “is considered crossing the red line of the devout people of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and will entail heavy costs and serious consequences.”
