An Iranian plot to kill then-candidate Donald Trump was clearly on the president’s thoughts when he ordered the assault that killed Iran’s supreme chief.
“I bought him earlier than he bought me,” Trump stated Sunday night time, not lengthy after he introduced Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been killed. “They tried twice. Effectively, I bought him first.”
President Trump was referring to an Iranian plot to kill him throughout the 2024 presidential marketing campaign. Throughout the summer season of 2024, U.S. intelligence believed the Iranian authorities was plotting to kill then-candidate Trump.
The plot was not tied to the assassination makes an attempt in opposition to the candidate in Butler, Pennsylvania, or West Palm Seaside, Florida, however Trump was briefed on the menace and extra sources had been added by the Biden administration to his Secret Service element.
After I spoke with President Trump late Sunday night time after he had returned to the White Home from a weekend overseeing army operations in Iran from his membership in Mar-a-Lago, he gave the impression of a president who’s feeling invincible.
Members of Iranian safety forces stand guard on a avenue subsequent to a billboard of Iran’s supreme chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, March 2, 2026.
AFP by way of Getty Photographs
He stated he believes the army operation has been an unmitigated success.
“No person else may have carried out this however me, and you realize that,” Trump instructed me.
Trump instructed me the Iranians had made vital concessions within the final spherical of talks. He recommended his resolution to chop off talks these and order the assault was pushed partially by the success of the army operations to seize Venezuelan chief Nicolas Maduro, whom the U.S. stated was an illegitimately elected president , and to strike the Iranian nuclear amenities final summer season in coordination with Israel.
“A yr in the past, it could have been nice to simply accept that deal for me,” he stated on Sunday, “however we have now turn out to be spoiled.”
President Donald Trump speaks to announce that the U.S. had begun “main fight operations” in Iran, on the day Israel and the U.S. carried out strikes on Iran, Feb. 28, 2026.
The White Home
Trump instructed me that somebody within the Iranian authorities reached out to him, however he wouldn’t say who.
“I most likely should not inform you,” he stated. “One of many few remaining people who find themselves nonetheless alive. He does not report back to the Supreme Chief anymore.”
A plume of smoke rises after a strike in Tehran, Iran, March 2, 2026.
Mohsen Ganji/AP
Earlier than the assaults, the administration had recognized doable leaders of a post-Khamenei Iran, however Trump stated they’re all gone. Khamenei was killed on Saturday alongside round 40 senior Iranian officers, the Israel Protection Forces stated.
“The assault was so profitable it knocked out a lot of the candidates,” Trump stated. “It’s not going to be anyone that we had been pondering of as a result of they’re all lifeless. Second or third place is lifeless.”
When requested about his assertion earlier within the day that there could be extra American casualties.
“It’s conflict and you’ve got casualties in conflict,” he stated.
Trump marveled on the degree of American losses to this point, pointing to final summer season’s assault and the operation in opposition to Maduro in Venezuela as proof of his administration’s army precision.
President Donald Trump waves a hat as he arrives at Corpus Christi Worldwide Airport, Feb. 27, 2026, in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Roberto Schmidt/Getty Photographs
“All of the issues we went by and we misplaced three individuals. We misplaced three,” he stated. “However when you ask Iran what number of they misplaced, they will’t depend that prime.”
U.S. Central Command on Monday stated one other member of the U.S. army had been killed throughout the operation in opposition to Iran, bringing the whole identified U.S. deaths to 4 individuals. At the very least 555 individuals have been killed in Iran in U.S.-Israeli strikes, the Iranian Purple Crescent Society stated in a press release on Monday.
When requested on Sunday how lengthy the conflict would go on, Trump stated, “We at all times thought it was a four-to-five-week deal.”
Was he ready to go longer?
“Positive. We have now plenty of ammunition,” he stated. “It may additionally go much less.”
