President Trump issued a new threat against the “deranged scumbags” leading Iran, vowing to use his “unparalleled firepower” for a fresh wave of deadly attacks Friday — which Secretary of War Pete Hegseth warned would see the “highest volume of strikes that America has put over the skies of Iran.”
Trump’s chilling message came after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei delivered his first public remarks and after two extremists attacked a synagogue and a college in the US on Thursday.
“We are totally destroying the terrorist regime of Iran, militarily, economically, and otherwise, yet, if you read the Failing New York Times, you would incorrectly think that we are not winning,” Trump wrote on Truth Social just after midnight Friday.
President Trump vowed to use his “unparalleled firepower” for a fresh wave of deadly attacks against Iran on Friday. AP
“Iran’s Navy is gone, their Air Force is no longer, missiles, drones and everything else are being decimated, and their leaders have been wiped from the face of the earth.”
Trump boasted over the US military’s “unparalleled firepower, unlimited ammunition, and plenty of time.”
“Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today,” Trump said.
“They’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them. What a great honor it is to do so! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Trump wrote.
At an early morning press conference Friday, Hegseth reiterated Trump’s threat.
“Today will be yet again the highest volume of strikes that America has put over the skies of Iran and Tehran,” he said.
Iranians carry flags as they take part in a protest marking the annual al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day) on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 13, 2026. via REUTERS
The Israeli military announced it had launched a “wide-scale wave of strikes” across Iran on Friday, targeting an underground ballistic missile facility, an aerial defense base and command centers.
Khamenei — who has not been seen since the joint US-Israel operation in Iran began on Feb. 28 — used his inaugural speech to call for the Islamic Republic to “obtain compensation” from its enemies.
“If it refuses, we will take from its assets to the extent we deem appropriate, and if that is not possible, we will destroy its assets to the same extent,” Khamenei said.
Smoke from a building in the center of the city that has been hit by the IDF after an evacuation order on March 12, 2026, in Beirut, Lebanon. Getty Images
People inspect a house that was destroyed by an Iranian ballistic missile on March 13, 2026, in Zarazir, Israel. Getty Images
Chaled Grifat collects belongings from his house, after it was destroyed by an Iranian ballistic missile on March 13, 2026, in Zarazir, Israel. Getty Images
The speech is believed to have been used to activate Iranian sleeper cells abroad to commit attacks against Israeli and American targets.
“These are desperate measures by a collapsing regime that sees no other choice but to escalate,” Khosro Isfahani, research director for the Washington-based think tank National Union for Democracy in Iran, told The Post Thursday.
Law enforcement agencies around the world have been on heightened alert for possible attacks from Tehran sympathizers.
Emergency officials gather outside Old Dominion University’s campus after reports of an active shooter on Thursday, March 12, 2026, in Norfolk, Va. AP
Bystanders are evacuated from Old Dominion University’s campus after the shooting. AP
On Thursday, convicted ISIS terrorist Mohamed Bailor Jalloh allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” before opening fire inside a classroom at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., killing Lt. Col. Brandon Shah.
Shah, the decorated chair of the university’s military science department, had completed several tours with the Army since he enlisted in 2003, including deployment to support Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and a rotation to Atlantic Resolve.
A second unhinged terrorist, inspired by ISIS, rammed an explosives-filled car into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Mich.
The armed driver, identified as 41-year-old Lebanese native Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, was found dead inside the car, which was loaded with mortar shells, after the temple’s security opened fire when the vehicle plowed through the entrance, police and sources said.
Law enforcement remains on site at the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan, a Detroit suburb, on March 12, 2026, after an armed suspect drove a vehicle into the building. AFP via Getty Images
Temple Israel employees and their families reunite after law enforcement escorts them back to their cars. Getty Images
Temple Israel, which hosts a preschool along with the synagogue, did not report any injuries from students or staff members.
Ghazali had at least four relatives, including a sibling, killed days earlier in deadly Israeli strikes against Hezbollah targets in Beirut last Saturday, sparking a possible motive for Thursday’s failed attack, investigation sources told the Detroit News.
It was not immediately clear if Jalloh or Ghazali was inspired by Khamenei’s address.
The new Iranian leader’s whereabouts have been questioned since the death of his father, Ali Khamenei, as initial conflicting reports claimed the son was killed in the same strikes that eliminated his father, wife and sister.
Despite the elusiveness of Mojtaba, Trump believes the mullah is alive.
“I think he probably is. I think he’s damaged, but I think he’s probably alive in some form,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News Radio host Brian Kilmeade.