President Donald Trump on Tuesday issued his starkest warning yet to Iran, vowing overwhelming retaliation if Tehran follows through on assassination threats against him.

“They shouldn’t be doing it, but I’ve left notification,” Trump said in an interview with NewsNation, responding to a question about ongoing threats attributed to Iran’s leadership. “Anything ever happens, we’re going to blow the whole — the whole country is going to get blown up.”

Trump singled out Joe Biden, saying Biden “should have said something” when similar threats were first aired.

“If they were making that threat to somebody — not even a president — but somebody like they did with me, I would absolutely hit them so hard,” Trump said. “I have very firm instructions — anything happens, they’re going to wipe them off the face of this earth.”

The remarks land amid deepening instability inside Iran, where nationwide protests that erupted in late December over the rial’s sharp devaluation, runaway inflation and soaring food prices have spread from Tehran to cities across the country. According to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, at least 4,029 people have been killed, more than 26,000 arrested and over 5,800 injured since the unrest began – though the numbers are almost certainly far higher.

Iranian officials have blamed the turmoil on foreign interference, accusing the United States and Israel of backing what they describe as “armed rioters.”

Trump has previously warned Tehran that it would “hit hard” if protesters were killed, while also praising Iranian authorities for reportedly canceling hundreds of scheduled executions — a rare note of approval amid otherwise escalating rhetoric.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)