Iran analysts say Donald Trump could become another Salman Rushdie: ‘The regime could continue to hunt him’

In the wake of some Iranian clerics issuing fatwas against US President Donald Trump, a campaign has  emerged within the country to raise funds as a reward for targeting the latter, argue two analysts. Behnam Ben Taleblu and Saeed Ghasseminejad, analysts with the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, state that as long as the regime lives, the threat to Trump will continue.

“If the clerics within the Islamic Republic survive, they will hunt Trump just like they did to writer Salman Rushdie,” according to the analysts. In an opinion piece that appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Taleblu, director of the Iran Programme, and Ghasseminejad, senior advisor with the foundation, state that some clerics in Iran, including those appointed by Khamenei to lead Friday prayer institutions, have issued fatwas calling for Trump's assassination.

“There is a campaign within Iran to raise funds as a reward for whoever carries out his assassination,” they state, adding that this was reminiscent of the campaign to place a bounty for the assassination of British writer Salman Rushdie by the Iranian "15 Khordad" Foundation, based on a fatwa from Khomeini.

The duo recalled the views of the founder of the Iranian regime, Ruhollah Khomeini, on the United States in the early years after the 1979 revolution. Khomeini explicitly stated that the slogan "Death to America" meant killing the US president. “This was confirmed by his successor, the current Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, who said: "Death to America means death to Trump," they said, referring to a speech Khamenei delivered to Iranian Air Force commanders in February 2019.

The analysts also referred to statements made by Mohammad Javad Larijani, a close associate of the Iranian regime, on a television program broadcast on July 8. "Last week, Mohammad Javad Larijani, a former senior advisor to Khamenei, said that Trump had done something (referring to the attack on the Iranian regime's nuclear facilities) that prevented him from sunbathing at Mar-a-Lago. Larijani added sarcastically that while Trump was sunbathing in Florida, a small drone could hit him in the stomach.”

Taleblu and Ghasseminejad argue that despite Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian's statement during an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson that Tehran was not seeking to assassinate Trump, the calls for the US President’s assassination have only increased among political and religious officials in the Iranian regime following the 12-day war with Israel. “Terms such as 'warrior,' 'corrupter on earth,' 'warring infidel," and 'blood-shedder' are used to refer to Trump; all serve to justify his killing under Islamic law,” they said.

"If Khamenei and his loyalist clerics survive or outlive the Trump administration, Trump could face a fate similar to that of Salman Rushdie, where the Iranian regime's death fatwa will pursue him anywhere in the world," the analysts said, referring to a cleric’s statement that "Khamenei has many followers in America and Europe, and they will implement the order to fight Trump."

Rushdie was attacked in 2022, some 34 years after Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for his death, and after the latter's death. 

Middle East