Connect with us

RSS

US Warns Iran Any Attempt on Trump’s Life Would Be an Act of War

Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump looks on during a rally at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, in Uniondale, New York, US, Sept. 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

The United States has warned the Iranian government to stop all plotting against Republican Donald Trump and said that Washington would view any attempt on his life as an act of war, a US official said on Monday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said US President Joe Biden has been briefed regularly on the threats and directed his team to address Iranian plots against Americans.

At Biden’s direction, top US officials have sent messages to the highest levels of the Iranian government warning Tehran to cease all plotting against Trump and former US officials, the official said.

The Iranians have been told that Washington would view it as an act of war if any attempt was carried out against Trump‘s life, the official said.

Iran has denied interfering in US affairs. Tehran, in turn, says Washington has interfered in its affairs for decades, citing events ranging from a 1953 coup against a prime minister to the 2020 killing of its military commander in a US drone strike.

In January 2020, Trump ordered a US air strike that killed Iran‘s then-top military commander, Qassem Soleimani, who was responsible for overseeing the regime’s terrorist proxies abroad, after receiving intelligence that Soleimani was planning imminent attacks on US diplomats and armed forces in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Trump, a Republican, is now seeking a return to the White House after losing the 2020 election to Biden. Trump is now in a battle against Vice President Kamala Harris in the race for the Nov. 5 election.

His campaign said on Sept. 24 that Trump was briefed by US intelligence officials on the alleged threat from Iran.

The White House said the United States has been closely tracking Iranian threats against Trump for years and it warned of “severe consequences” if Tehran was to attack any US citizen.

“We consider this a national and homeland security matter of the highest priority, and we strongly condemn Iran for these brazen threats. Should Iran attack any of our citizens, including those who continue to serve the United States or those who formerly served, Iran will face severe consequences,” said White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett.

He said “appropriate agencies are continuously and promptly providing the former president’s security detail with evolving threat information.”

“Additionally, President Biden has reiterated his directive that the United States Secret Service should receive every resource, capability, and protective measure required to address those evolving threats to the former president,” Savett said.

The post US Warns Iran Any Attempt on Trump’s Life Would Be an Act of War first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Continue Reading

RSS

JD Vance Says US at War with Iran’s Nuclear Program, not Iran

US Vice President JD Vance delivers remarks at the Wilshire Federal Building in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 20, 2025. Phone: REUTERS/Daniel Cole/File Photo

Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday the US was not at war with Iran but at war with its nuclear program, adding the program had been pushed back by a very long time due to American strikes ordered by President Donald Trump.

Trump said he had “obliterated” Iran’s main nuclear sites in strikes overnight with massive bunker-busting bombs, joining Israel’s assault against its Middle East rival in a significant new escalation of conflict in the region.

“We’re not at war with Iran. We’re at war with Iran’s nuclear program,” Vance said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker” show

“I think that we have really pushed their program back by a very long time. I think that it’s going to be many, many years before the Iranians are going to be able to develop a nuclear weapon.”

Vance accused Iran of not negotiating in good faith, which he said served as a catalyst for US strikes. The US had been in diplomatic talks with Iran about Tehran’s nuclear program.

Tehran vowed to defend itself while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “gravely alarmed” by the US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites.

“We don’t want a regime change,” Vance added. “We do not want to protract this… We want to end the nuclear program, and then we want to talk to the Iranians about a long-term settlement here.”

Vance said Trump made the final decision to strike Iran right before the strikes took place and that Washington has received some “indirect” messages from Tehran since the strikes.

Vance said the US “had no interest in boots on the ground.”

Trump said on Friday he was going to decide in the next two weeks about direct US involvement in the Israel-Iran war which began with Israel’s attacks on Iran on June 13. The war has raised alarm in a region already on edge since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023.

US ally Israel is the only country in the Middle East widely believed to have nuclear weapons and says it struck Iran to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.

Many Democratic US lawmakers said Trump’s actions were unconstitutional and that it was the US Congress that had the power to declare war on foreign countries.

Vance responded to that criticism by saying Trump had “clear authority to act to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.”

The post JD Vance Says US at War with Iran’s Nuclear Program, not Iran first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Continue Reading

RSS

‘Totally Obliterated’: US Bombs Iran’s Nuclear Sites, Trump Declares Operation a Success

US President Donald Trump delivers an address to the nation alongside US Vice President JD Vance, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the White House in Washington, DC, US, June 21, 2025, following US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria/Pool

The United States launched a large-scale military strike against Iran early Saturday, destroying key nuclear enrichment facilities, including the heavily fortified Fordow site.

US President Donald Trump said in a public address that the operation had “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities and urged Tehran to “make peace,” warning that any future aggression would be met with even greater force.

The multi-pronged strike combined stealth B‑2 Spirit bombers deploying bunker-buster bombs with Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from submarines. Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan — all central to the Iranian nuclear program — were targeted in a coordinated assault. US military officials said the campaign neutralized Iran’s main enrichment operations

Trump praised Israel’s role in coordinating the response and hailed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a key partner, saying the two leaders worked “as a team like perhaps no team has ever worked before.” Netanyahu, for his part, called the American action “unmatched” and said it signaled a shift toward restoring regional stability.

Iran’s foreign ministry condemned the operation as a breach of sovereignty and international law, vowing to respond with force. Hours after the strike, Iran retaliated by unleashing a salvo of roughly 30 ballistic and hypersonic missiles toward central Israel. Several missiles hit urban centers including Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Haifa, and surrounding areas, causing injuries to at least 25 civilians and extensive property damage. Israel closed its airspace and instructed residents in key regions to only venture out for essential activities. In response, Israeli jets struck military targets in Iran, including missile launch sites and rocket depots. 

Domestically, Trump’s decision exposed sharp political divisions in Washington. Republican hawks applauded the move as decisive, while isolationists and some constitutional conservatives questioned the legality of bypassing Congress, demanding oversight before further military escalation. Meanwhile, the United Nations and key US allies, including Britain and France, urged caution and a swift return to diplomatic solutions.  

Iranian state media reported that most nuclear material was evacuated from Fordow ahead of the strike, the Reuters news agency reported. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog, said it detected no spike in off-site radiation.

According to Arab sources cited in The Wall Street Journal, the United States sent messages via regional intermediaries to reassure Tehran that the strike was a one-off and not part of a campaign to topple the regime. A senior US official confirmed that the administration clarified it had no intention of pursuing regime change and that the door remained open to renewed negotiations.

US Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA), co-sponsors of a bipartisan resolution to block unauthorized military action in Iran, criticized Trump’s strike as unconstitutional. Massie called the move illegal, while Khanna urged Congress to immediately vote on their Iran War Powers Resolution “to prevent America from being dragged into another endless Middle East war.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), meanwhile, called for Trump’s ouster, claiming it violated the US Constitution and as such was an impeachable offense.

“The president’s disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers. He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations. It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment,” she said. 

Arsen Ostrovsky, a leading human rights lawyer and CEO of the International Legal Forum, rejected the criticism. He said Trump was acting well within his powers under Article II of the Constitution, which grants the president authority as commander-in-chief to protect national security. 

“This is not without precedent,” Ostrovsky told The Algemeiner, pointing to former President Barack Obama’s operation to kill Osama bin Laden and former President Joe Biden’s airstrikes on Iranian proxies in Syria

“Trump did not need the authorization of Congress in order to initiate a military strike,” he said, adding that the action was also supported by the War Powers Resolution of 1973 and Article 51 of the UN Charter, which affirms a nation’s right to self-defense.

Ostrovsky also defended the legality of Israel’s involvement, saying its campaign was not a sudden act of aggression but a response to a protracted armed conflict initiated by Iran. 

“Faced with an existential and imminent threat from a nuclear Iran, the Jewish state had no choice but to act before it was too late,” he said. He described the strikes as “lawful, necessary, and proportionate under the Laws of Armed Conflict against a genocidal regime that had vowed to destroy the world’s only Jewish state and stood on the cusp of acquiring the means to do so, had Israel not acted.”

“In striking Iran’s nuclear weapons program, Israel and the United States made the world a safer place. They did it not only in their own defense, but in defense of the free world,” he concluded.

The post ‘Totally Obliterated’: US Bombs Iran’s Nuclear Sites, Trump Declares Operation a Success first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Continue Reading

RSS

Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.

The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.

They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.

Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.

Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.

Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.

The post Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Continue Reading

Copyright © 2017 - 2023 Jewish Post & News