United States President Donald Trump asserted that Washington could eliminate the remaining leadership of Iran with just "one shot" if it wanted, referring to the gathering of senior Iranian figures at the week-long state funeral for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the late Iranian Supreme Leader who was killed in US-Israeli airstrikes on February 28.
He, however, said that such a step was not what the US was willing to take as it wants negotiations with Iran to continue. "They are all there. One shot [and we can take them all out], but we are not going to do that because then we would have nobody to negotiate with," Trump was quoted as saying by Axios.
In an interaction with the news outlet, he also said he was surprised to see some Iranians crying at the funeral, saying he thought people hated Ali Khamenei. "Maybe it's fake tears," he said. Iran's embassy in Armenia reacted to Trump's remarks in a post on X: "You don't understand these things because you have neither civilization, nor history, nor honor."
Earlier, ahead of the 'Fourth of July' festivities, the US President had taken a swipe at Iran by saying, "We knocked the hell out of Iran. They're dying to settle. They want to settle so badly. We gave them a week off for a funeral because we're nice."
Ahead of the commencement of Ali Khamenei's funeral ceremony, an Iranian military commander had warned the US and Israel against any attack on Iran.
"We warn the enemies of Iran, especially the US and the Zionist regime (Israel), to avoid any miscalculation and to think about the harsh retaliation our armed forces would make to any threat and aggression against our country,” Ali Abdollahi, commander of Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said in a statement carried by Iranian state media.
Funeral processions for Khamenei began on Friday, July 3, in Tehran and is set to conclude on July 9 with his burial in his hometown of Mashhad, with additional ceremonies planned in Qom and Iraq in between these dates.
On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi gave a similar warning that Tehran would deliver an immediate and powerful response to any threat against its people or leadership after comments by Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz that Iran's current Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei's son Mojtaba Khamenei, was "marked for death."
He is unlikely to appear publicly at his father's funeral because authorities cannot guarantee his safety, the Supreme Leader's Representative in India, Ayatollah Hakim Elahi, had told India Today earlier this month.
