Iran threatens to assassinate Trump with 'small drone while tanning'

A senior Iranian official has threatened Donald Trump, saying he can no longer safely sunbathe at his Mar-a-Lago property. The US President could be struck by a drone, they suggested, while he relaxes at the vast Florida complex. "Trump has done something that he can no longer sunbathe in Mar-a-Lago," Javad Larijani, an advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei, said. "As he lies there with his stomach to the sun, a small drone might hit him in the navel. It's very simple."

It comes after the US struck nuclear sites in Iran, with Mr Trump claiming they had been "obliterated". Reports afterwards suggested that the bombing did not destroy key components of the programme. A spokesperson for the US Defense Department, Sean Parnell, insisted on Wednesday that the three facilities targeted by Washington were destroyed. "We have degraded their programme by one to two years at least," Parnell said. "Intel assessments inside the department assess that."

Now, campaigners are reportedly raising money to kill Mr Trump on "Blood Pact", an online platform calling for a "retribution against those who mock and threaten the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei".

More than $40million (£29.4million) to date, according to Iran International.

"We pledge to award the bounty to anyone who can bring the enemies of God and those who threaten the life of Ali Khamenei to justice," a statement on Blood Pact's homepage read.

Activists want to raise $100million (£73.5million) to assassinate the US President.

Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, has also advocated for "Islamic rulings on moharebeh" against Mr Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Moharebeh - which translates as "waging war against God" - is punishable by death in the Iranian legal system.

In 2020, Trump ordered the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in an air strike at Baghdad International Airport.

Iran's supreme leader afterwards vowed "severe revenge" on those responsible for his death.

On July 2, Iran's president ordered the country to suspend its co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

But, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi hinted that Tehran would still be willing to continue negotiations with the US.

He told CBS: "I don't think negotiations will restart as quickly as that," referring to Trump's suggestion that talks could start as early as this week.

However, he added: "The doors of diplomacy will never slam shut."