I got him before he got me: Trump reveals personal motive behind Khamenei assassination strike

Two days after the assassination of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a joint US-Israel strike, US President Donald Trump said, "I got him before he got me. They tried twice. Well, I got him first." He was hinting at US intelligence agency reports which alleged a possible 2024 Iranian plot to kill Trump.

The US President made these statements while speaking with a US journalist on the phone. "I just spoke to President Trump for several minutes about Iran. I asked him about who is going to take over now that the Ayatollah, the Supreme Leader, is gone, and his answer was interesting. He said the attack was so successful it knocked out most of the candidates," ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl said.

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"He told me it's not going to be anybody that we were thinking of because they're all dead. I talked to him about the fact that the Iranians had tried to kill him. There was a plot in 2024, an Iranian plot to try to kill Trump, and he said of the Ayatollah, 'I got him before he got me. They tried twice. Well, I got him first,'" Karl added in a video posted on X.

On the three American casualties in the Iran operations, Trump stated, "It’s war, and you have casualties in war." In a self-praising tone, the US President said that with all the operations he has conducted as president in Venezuela, the one last summer in Iran, and this one, the total American casualty count is three.

The US-Israeli operation in Iran entered its third day after assassinating Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a precision strike on a high-security compound in Tehran. Several other top leaders were also killed after the US and Israel launched a massive coordinated aerial campaign on Saturday.

The strikes, codenamed Operation Roaring Lion by Israel and Operation Epic Fury by the United States, struck multiple sites across Iran. The strikes targeted government buildings in Tehran and suspected nuclear facilities, specifically aiming to decapitate the highest levels of Iranian leadership.

In retaliation, Iran's Revolutionary Guard launched strikes on Israel, US military bases, and its allies across West Asia, including Qatar, Iraq, UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan.

Meanwhile, Trump threatened Iranian forces to put down their weapons and called on Iran's people to rise to "take back your country" as this is "the single greatest chance" after Khamenei's death.

"I once again urge the [IRGC], the Iranian military and police to lay down your arms and receive full immunity or face certain death. It will be certain death. It won't be pretty," he said.

Tehran vowed to avenge the death of the Supreme Leader and declared that it would not negotiate with the United States.