Donald Trump Brags 'I Got Him First' After Killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei in Attack
Donald Trump boasted about the Iran strikes.
March 2 2026, Published 1:21 p.m. ET
Donald Trump boasted that he took out Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei before he got the chance to do it himself, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The POTUS, 79, was seemingly referencing a U.S. intelligence investigation into what was believed to be a plot to assassinate Trump in 2024.
'I Got Him First'
Farhad Shakeri was arrested and charged in connection with an alleged murder plot in 2024.
On Sunday, March 1, ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl claimed Trump told him, "I got him before he got me. They tried twice. Well I got him first," referring to Khamenei, who was reported dead on Saturday, February 28.
Back in November 2024, Farhad Shakeri was taken into custody in connection with an alleged plan to murder the president. Two others, Carlisle Rivera and Jonathon Loadholt, both from New York, were also arrested.
"The Justice Department has charged an asset of the Iranian regime who was tasked by the regime to direct a network of criminal associates to further Iran’s assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald Trump," Merrick Garland, the former U.S. Attorney General, said at the time.
"We have also charged and arrested two individuals who we allege were recruited as part of that network to silence and kill, on U.S. soil, an American journalist who has been a prominent critic of the regime," the statement continued. "We will not stand for the Iranian regime’s attempts to endanger the American people and America’s national security."
'They Would Be Obliterated'
Donald Trump warned Iran would be 'obliterated' if he was assassinated.
Following the reported assassination plot, the Trump administration came up with a plan on what to do if such an attempt by Iran was ever successful.
"That would be a terrible thing for them to do, not because of me. If they did that, they would be obliterated. That would be the end. I've left instructions," Trump claimed in a February 2025 interview.
"If they do it, they get obliterated," he reiterated. "There won't be anything left."
Inside the Strikes Against Iran
The U.S. and Israel bombed Iran on February 28.
On Saturday, it was confirmed that both the United States and Israel had begun coordinated efforts to bomb Iran.
"The heavy and pinpoint bombing … will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!" Trump posted on Truth Social.
While this quickly sparked fears there could be a return strike against the U.S., Trump insisted that would be a bad idea.
"If they do, we will hit them with a force that has never been seen before," he claimed.
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Donald Trump said nine Iranian navel ships were 'destroyed.'
The next day, the POTUS announced that the military "destroyed and sunk" nine Iranian naval ships, some of which were "relatively large and important."
When asked why he agreed to the strikes, Trump told NBC News that it came down to the country's potential access to nuclear weapons.
"They weren’t willing to stop their nuclear research," he said. "They weren’t willing to say they will not have a nuclear weapon. Very simple."
