Iran's revenge campaign could put Trump in its crosshairs - opinion

Following the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's official and semi-official discourse has merged mourning with a duty to avenge those deemed responsible, with Donald Trump at the top of the list. The article argues that Tehran's existing network of proxies, criminal ties, and ideological mobilization could turn rhetoric into action, and calls for preventive strikes and re-engineered deterrence.

Following the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Israeli and U.S. airstrikes, Iran's official and semi-official discourse has merged mourning with a duty to avenge those deemed responsible, with Donald Trump at the top of the list. The article argues that Tehran's existing network of proxies, criminal ties, and ideological mobilization could turn rhetoric into action. It describes how the IRGC could leverage drug cartels, migrant communities, and fringe extremists to carry out an assassination, and notes that at Khamenei's funeral, posters of Trump with red crosshairs were displayed. The author calls for preventive strikes on IRGC planning units and financial networks, and a re-engineered deterrence framework that treats any credible threat as a hostile act.