US President Donald Trump said earlier this week that he had issued standing instructions for the American military to strike Iran “at levels they’ve never seen before” if Tehran carries out its long-standing threats to assassinate him.
His remarks came as funeral ceremonies for Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saw mourners holding posters and banners calling for the deaths of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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Trump vs Mojtaba Khamenei
Trump wrote on his social media platform on Saturday that Iran had threatened “to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate” him. He added that 1,000 “missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat.”
A few hours later, Iran’s current Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said Iranians would continue to seek revenge for the killing of his father.
“We pledge to take revenge for the pure blood of you and all the martyrs of these two wars from the criminal and disgraceful killers,” he said in remarks aired on state television. “This revenge is the will of our nation and must certainly be carried out.”
What would happen if Iran targets Trump?
The US government does not have any automatic or pre-approved system that would lead to military retaliation if a president is assassinated.
If Trump were killed, power would instead pass to his successor under the 25th Amendment and the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. In that case, vice president JD Vance would immediately become commander-in-chief and would have the authority to decide on any military response.
Vance could then choose to carry out the action Trump had called for. However, he could also decide not to follow those instructions or respond differently.
The US also has detailed continuity-of-government plans to deal with situations such as a nuclear attack or another major disaster that could devastate Washington, news agency Associated Press said in a report.
However, those plans do not reportedly include launching immediate retaliatory strikes following the death of a president, even if the president had previously instructed the military to prepare for such action.
‘If I am killed, nuke Iran’
Garrett M Graff, author of “Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself — While the Rest of Us Die”, told AP that, apart from leaving standing military instructions in the event of his death, Trump could also tell Vance, “something to Vance like, ‘If I’m killed, nuke Iran.’”
He added that such an instruction would make “more sense and would be absolutely legal”.
