According to the Jerusalem Post, an Iranian official has made a striking claim about President Donald Trump’s recent trip to Türkiye, saying Tehran deliberately chose not to act against the US leader despite allegedly having the opportunity to do so.
The comments, made as tensions between Washington and Tehran continue to escalate, have added another layer of uncertainty to an already volatile regional standoff.
Ezzatollah Zarghami, a member of Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace and a former minister, accused Trump of directing military operations against Iran while attending the NATO summit in Ankara.
In a post on X, Zarghami called on Iranian authorities to summon Türkiye’s ambassador, writing: “Summon the Turkish ambassador and warn him. The lunatic Trump is issuing orders to attack Iran from there.”
He then claimed Iran had intentionally exercised restraint because of its ties with Türkiye.
According to Zarghami, “the murderer of our martyred leader” had been within reach for retaliation but Iran refrained “out of respect for friendship and good neighborly relations,” referring to Türkiye.
His remarks came just hours after President Trump declared the US-Iran ceasefire agreement “over” following a fresh wave of American airstrikes on Iranian targets, signalling that diplomacy had once again given way to military confrontation.
The rhetoric has also been echoed by other hardline voices inside Iran. Reports say lawmaker Hamid Rasaei suggested Trump’s presence in Ankara created an opportunity to target his location, while the newspaper Kayhan reportedly published commentary calling for Trump to be declared deserving of death. Another channel linked to groups close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) allegedly shared a geolocation pin claiming to identify where the US president was staying during the summit.
The reported threats cast a shadow over the NATO gathering, where world leaders had assembled to discuss collective security and regional stability.
According to the Associated Press, Trump authorised a new round of retaliatory strikes against Iran shortly after leaving a NATO leaders’ dinner in Ankara, an unusual decision given that such military orders are typically issued when a US president is back on home soil
Trump later dismissed suggestions that security fears forced changes to his travel plans but acknowledged the danger, telling reporters he was “No. 1 on their list.”
As military action intensifies and political rhetoric grows increasingly confrontational, the already fragile relationship between Washington and Tehran appears to be moving further away from diplomacy and closer to another dangerous chapter of conflict….See More