US president warns the US will decimate Iran amid alleged assassination plots as regional mediators try to save MoU
\n Washington
\nUnited States President Donald Trump has threatened to \u201cdecimate and destroy all areas of Iran\u201d if he faces any assassination attempt, as a statement from the country\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei says avenging his slain predecessor and father is \u201cthe demand of the nation\u201d and \u201cmust certainly\u201d take place.
\n\u201cWe pledge to avenge the blood of the martyred leader and all the martyrs of these two wars from the \u200ccriminal and disgraced killers,\u201d Khamenei wrote in the statement, which was read on state television.
\nKhamenei, who senior sources have said suffered facial disfigurement and other injuries in the US-Israeli strike that killed his father and four other family members, has not been seen by Iranians since he was appointed supreme leader on March 8. There was no sign of him during the week-long series of processions and formal funeral events for his father that culminated in the former supreme leader\u2019s burial late on Thursday.
\nAt least 15 million people thronged the streets for funeral processions in Tehran and Qom in Iran, and Najaf and Karbala in Iraq, before the final burial in Mashhad late on Thursday. Iranian sources have claimed the total was more than 30 million.
\nBanners and chants calling for Trump to be killed were widespread at the events.
\nIn a typically bellicose post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday, Trump wrote: \u201c1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the Globe, to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate, the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case, ME!\u201d
\nHe added: \u201cOrders have already been given, and the U.S. Military is ready, willing, and able, for a one year period of time, subject to extension, to completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran \u2013 PRAISE BE TO ALLAH!\u201d
\nIsrael warned the US earlier in the week about a new and specific Iranian plot to assassinate Trump, US media reported.
\nSources told CNN that the new Israeli intelligence detailed a highly specific, active plot. The Wall Street Journal also confirmed the threat was \u201cfresh\u201d.<\/p>\n
Threats and talks
\nBut despite his fiery rhetoric, and his insistence that the provisional ceasefire with Tehran has been over since Iranian attacks on Qatari and Saudi tankers near the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday led to US air strikes on Iran for two nights and retaliatory Iranian missile and drone attacks, Trump said talks on finalising a peace deal were continuing.
\n\u201cThe Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue \u2018talks.\u2019 We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!\u201d Trump wrote.
\nIn response to the mounting pressure from Washington, Iran\u2019s lead negotiator and parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, stated that Tehran would never surrender to the US. He emphasised that Iran remains fully prepared to defend itself if Washington backs out of the Pakistani-brokered memorandum of understanding that underpins the unravelling ceasefire.
\n\u201cWe have never stopped preparing to defend our country, and if at any moment the Americans betray the understanding, we are ready for full-scale defence,\u201d Ghalibaf said. \u201cEnding the war is a priority for the countries of the world, but everyone should know that this conflict will never end with Iran\u2019s surrender.\u201d
\nDespite the exchange of ultimatums and a wave of US air attacks on five Iranian provinces earlier in the week, high-stakes diplomatic talks are continuing behind the scenes, and Qatari mediators have travelled to Tehran.
\nIranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Oman on Saturday for talks on safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, state media said, as Washington seeks a public pledge of free transit.
\nUS negotiators including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were expected to meet Araghchi on Saturday.
\nIran\u2019s Fars news agency later quoted a source that said no negotiations would take place until the US retreated from its positions.
\nA US official has told Al Jazeera that despite launching attacks on two days this week, Washington remains committed to negotiations with Tehran.
\n\u201cThere is a flurry of diplomatic activity to rescue the stalled talks following the latest round of de-escalation,\u201d said Al Jazeera correspondent Mahmoud Abdelwahed, reporting from Tehran.
\n\u201cHowever, Iranian officials remain highly sceptical of American intentions, especially after the latest US strikes and President Trump\u2019s statements.\u201d
\nAl Jazeera correspondent Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Washington, DC, said \u201cthe United States insists that for there to be a deal, Iran must agree to nuclear limits and deliver its nuclear material. Senior US officials say conversations have been productive, but they have issued an ultimatum following recent Iranian targeting of commercial vessels.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
US president warns the US will decimate Iran amid alleged assassination plots as regional mediators try to save MoU Washington United States President Donald Trump has threatened to \u201cdecimate and destroy all areas of Iran\u201d if he faces any assassination attempt, as a statement from the country\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei says avenging his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555814,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-555801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n