Donald Trump has claimed Iran is targeting him for assassination, saying he’s “number one on the kill list”.
Speaking to the press at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, the US President touted his nation’s military capability in wiping out Iranian forces and killing most of Tehran’s senior leadership, but admitted he too could be taken out.
“They had leaders, they’re gone, and they had another set of leaders, they’re gone. Now they have another set of leaders; they may be gone. Who knows? And you know what, I may be gone too, because I’m their number one target,” he said.
“I’m the number one, because they’re scum. That’s the way they act, and that’s the way they’ve done it for 47 years, but I’m doing what’s right for the country; I’m doing what’s right for the world.”
Donald Trump has claimed Iran is targeting him for assassination. Picture: Burak Kara/Getty
When a reporter later asked about speculation that he would be leaving Turkey on the original Air Force One rather than the new Qatari-gifted jet due to threats from Iran, Mr Trump did not give a direct answer, instead saying the “life of a president is very dangerous”.
“It’s 5.2 per cent,” he claimed of the mortality rate.
“You know what a race car driver is? One tenth of one per cent.
“A bull rider – that looks pretty dangerous to me – it’s one tenth of one per cent. No, it’s 5.2 per cent; you don’t make it,” he added, before gesturing towards a reporter.
“You’re an excellent reporter. You should have told me that years ago; maybe I wouldn’t have run,” he quipped. “It’s a very dangerous profession.”
Mr Trump said “the life of a president is very dangerous”. Picture: AP/Alex Brandon
He called Iran “scum” and claimed he was “doing what’s right for the world”. Picture: AP/Emrah Gurel
However, Mr Trump said he didn’t “really care” about threats “because I’m doing my job”.
“I like being number one on TikTok better,” he joked, “but I’m number one on the list for killing.”
The US President later told reporters he didn’t think war with Iran would start again, saying
he believed the conflict would end “quickly” after recent escalations from both sides.
“They hit a couple of ships, and so we hit them much harder,” he said.
“Somebody asked before, ‘Do you think you’ll hit them tonight?’ And I (said) ‘We might, yeah, we might’. But when they hit, we hit; we use their language.”
“Anything that happens is going to be over very quickly and will only make it safer, including for oil.”
Mr Trump said he believes the conflict is going to be “over very quickly”. Picture: Burak Kara/Getty
His comments came hours before the US military announced it was carrying out “additional strikes” against Iran on Wednesday US time (Thursday morning AEST).
“At the direction of the Commander in Chief, US Central Command forces have started conducting additional strikes against Iran to further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” US Central Command said in a statement on social media.
“The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway.”
The US earlier launched a fresh wave of strikes against Iran on Tuesday, US time, hitting over 80 targets, following attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
