Trump urged revenge against Iran, not Israel, in response to a potential assassination scenario

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint meeting of Congress on July 24, defending his country’s war in Gaza and praising former President Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, "for all he’s done in Israel." 

He also denounced "Iran’s terrorist proxies," saying "they even brazenly threatened to assassinate President Trump." 

Trump posted a clip of this quote the following day on Truth Social. 

"If they do ‘assassinate President Trump,’ which is always a possibility, I hope that America obliterates Iran, wipes it off the face of the Earth — If that does not happen, American Leaders will be considered ‘gutless’ cowards," Trump said. 

But an altered version of this post now spreading on social media appears to show Trump urging revenge against not Iran but Israel. 

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stated on September 18, 2024 in an X post

Photo shows a toilet after “some Hezbollah operative blew up.”

"If they do ‘assassinate President Trump,’ which is always a possibility, I hope that America obliterates Israel, wipes it off the face of the Earth — If that does not happen, American Leaders will be considered ‘gutless’ cowards," the altered image says. 

An Oct. 13 Instagram post sharing the altered version was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

This doesn’t reflect reality — why would Trump wish harm to Israel in response to the Israeli prime minister criticizing what he described as a brazen assassination attempt against the former president? 

News coverage at the time further reported on Trump’s comments about revenge against Iran — not Israel. 

Iran, meanwhile, denied the allegation that it was involved in plots to assassinate Trump. 

We rate claims Trump said he hopes the United States "obliterates Israel" False.