US First Lady Melania Trump and her son Barron have become the targets of a first-of-its-kind chilling video from Iran threatening to kill President Donald Trump’s family. The twisted clip outlines “where and how” the First Family could be attacked — emerging mere weeks after the Republican leader himself told The New York Post that he’d “left instructions” should Iran succeed in its years-old scheme to assassinate him.
“I’ve been on their list for a long time,” he stated at the time, adding, “The only thing is, I’ve left instructions — if anything happens, to just literally bomb them at levels that they’ve never seen before.”
In the meantime, the US Secret Service, the federal law enforcement agency operating under the Department of Homeland Security which deploys details for both Melania and Barron Trump, has issued a response to the media, addressing the unsettling threats from Iran. The video was first reported by Tasnim News Agency, Iranian media outlet affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Iranian video’s issues assassination threat against Melania and Barron Trump
A new video circulating online encourages Iran’s supporters to assassinate Trump’s wife, Melania. It also leaves a chilling message targeting 20-year-old Barron Trump at the end.
A shot from the video titled “How to Kill Melania Trump” shows footage of a limousine with the American first lady on board, driving past high-end stores Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue. Apparent red target marks are overlaid on the stores, as the video claims that shopping outings could be “suitable for operations by global freedom fighters.”
Yet another still from the video emerging out of Iran displays a seemingly blood-tainted visual that reads “Where to Kill Melania?”
Thereafter, the video also threatens President Donald Trump‘s youngest son, saying, “This is just the beginning. Barron Trump, wait for us.”
Melania and Barron Trump, alongside other members of the Trump family, even became the subjects of billboards across Tehran spreading similar life-threatening messages last week. One such visual read, “Blood for blood,” reported The New York Post.
Secret Service responds to new ‘assassination threat’ video against Trumps
In light of the new development, the federal agency told Newsweek that it was aware of the Iran-linked video sending out such disturbing messages. It further indicated that authorities are reviewing threats foregrounded in the video.
“The Secret Service is aware of the video and investigates anything that can be perceived as a threat toward our protectees,” Nate Herring, a lead public affairs specialist with the U.S. Secret Service’s Communications and Media Relations office, told Newsweek on Monday. “Out of concern for operational security, we do not discuss matters of protective intelligence.”
As of now, the Secret Service’s statement hasn’t suggested that a specific threat has been identified.
Threats against Trump
Trump has long positioned himself as a target of Iranian wrath. During his recent NATO summit visit in Turkey, he said he was “on every single one of their list,” suggesting that the West Asian country wanted to “take out the US leader–me.”
The issue of his safety even trickled down to his travel itinerary, as earlier this month the US president had to forgo flying in his new Qatar-gifted Air Force One aircraft and rely on an older model out of Turkey for his NATO visit over Iranian threats, according to The New York Times.
Previously, Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowed in a social media post that he would avenge his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death. The former Supreme Leader was killed in the joint airstrikes by the US and Israel that started the ongoing war in West Asia on February 28.
“This revenge is the demand of our nation, and it will most certainly be carried out. These criminals — whose names are known from top to bottom — will take to their graves the unfulfilled wish of dying peacefully in their beds,” he wrote on July 11.
Although Khamenei’s post didn’t blatantly name Trump, chants calling for both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s deaths took centre stage at the funeral of the late Supreme Leader. Meanwhile, Israeli intelligence also appeared to inform Washington that Iran was weighing potential assassination plots, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Consequently, Trump responded to those reiterated threats by issuing a stern warning of his own on social media.
“1000 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,” Trump said on Truth Social.
In other latest news, Trump claimed that “very friendly negotiations (are) going on” about the ongoing Iranian conflict, as both sides didn’t trade any attacks for a third consecutive day. Expressing optimism, he told reporters on Monday (US time), “I think there’s a good chance that something could happen.”
On the contrary, Iran has denied any direct talks with the US.