Tehran daily calls for Trump’s assassination

Official newspaper of the Tehran municipality threatens that “revenge is certain,” with cover showing crosshairs on President Donald Trump.

By World Israel News Staff

A major Iranian newspaper published a front page showing President Donald Trump in the crosshairs of a sniper scope and warning that “revenge is certain,” even as senior American envoys headed to Doha for talks Washington says are aimed at salvaging a fragile ceasefire and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

The image appeared Tuesday on the front page of Hamshahri, a high-circulation daily funded by the municipality of Tehran.

The cover placed Trump’s face beneath the headline “Revenge is certain,” attributed the message to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and carried the subheading, “War criminals must be confronted.”

The display underscored the hostile political atmosphere in Tehran as the Trump administration sent special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Qatar for what the White House described as high-level discussions on Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the American delegation would discuss the June 17 memorandum of understanding that paused four months of fighting between the United States and Iran and was meant to restore safe passage through the strategic waterway.

“Special Envoy Witkoff and Jared Kushner will be flying to Doha for high-level meetings this week, as we continue to discuss the memorandum of understanding,” Leavitt said. “On the sidelines of those high-level talks will be the technical talks.”

Leavitt said Washington believed it was honoring the ceasefire but warned that the US would keep responding to attacks.

“As far as we’re concerned, we’re holding up our end of the ceasefire. Violence will be met with violence,” she said.

Trump said Monday that Iran had requested the meeting and that it would take place Tuesday in Doha. Speaking later in the Oval Office, he downplayed expectations, saying, “The meeting in Doha is going to be perhaps important, perhaps not. We’re going to find out.”

Iran rejected Washington’s description of the contacts. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran’s expert delegation would travel to Qatar to follow up on implementation of the memorandum, but not to negotiate with American officials.

“We will not have any negotiation meetings at any level with the American side in the coming days,” Baghaei said.

Baghaei said the visit by US representatives to Qatar had “no connection” to the Iranian expert delegation’s trip. He said Tehran’s priority was ensuring that the other side implements the memorandum, including clauses dealing with oil sales and the release of blocked Iranian funds.

The diplomatic confusion comes days after renewed military exchanges threatened to unravel the June 17 accord.

The US and Iran signed a 14-point memorandum aimed at ending the four-month conflict, reopening the Strait of Hormuz and giving the sides at least 60 days to work toward a permanent truce and renewed nuclear talks. The strait normally carries about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas trade.

But the ceasefire has repeatedly been tested. The US military struck Iranian missile and drone storage sites and coastal radar facilities Friday after Washington accused Iran of hitting a commercial cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz with a drone.

Iran said it responded by striking US military targets in the region, while the Revolutionary Guards warned that any further American strikes would draw a broader response.

“The unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping by Iranian forces clearly violated the ceasefire,” US Central Command said after the strikes, calling them “a powerful response to yesterday’s attack on a commercial ship that was transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”

Vice President JD Vance issued a similar warning.

“Iran signed a ceasefire agreement. We have honored it. If they have disagreements about how the MOU is being applied, they can pick up the phone. But violence will be met with violence,” Vance said.

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