President Donald Trump dismissed a chilling threat from a senior Iranian official suggesting he could be assassinated by a drone while sunbathing at Mar-a-Lago, brushing it off with characteristic bravado and sarcasm. “It’s been a long time. I don’t know, maybe I was around seven or so,” Trump said, smirking when asked if he was concerned about the warning. “I’m not too big into [sunbathing]. I guess it’s a threat. I’m not sure it’s a threat, actually—but perhaps it is.” The threat came from Javad Larijani, a top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who told Iranian state television that Trump should now “fear the sun.” “Trump has done something so that he can no longer sunbathe in Mar-a-Lago,” Larijani said ominously. “As he lies there with his stomach to the sun, a small drone might hit him in the navel. It’s very simple.” The veiled threat follows last month’s U.S.-led strikes on three major Iranian nuclear facilities—operations coordinated with Israel and publicly authorized by Trump in an effort to derail Tehran’s nuclear program. While the Iranian government quickly agreed to a Trump-brokered cease-fire, experts have warned that the regime’s thirst for vengeance remains unresolved. This is not the first time Iran has been linked to plots against the former president. In 2024, the Department of Justice unsealed an indictment against Iranian agent Farhad Shakeri for orchestrating an operation to surveil and assassinate Trump on U.S. soil. Two alleged co-conspirators were arrested in New York—Carlisle Rivera and Jonathan Loadholt—with evidence pointing to a plot directly overseen by Tehran. Even before that, the Iranian regime had glorified the idea of Trump’s assassination. A propaganda video produced in 2022, depicting Trump being targeted on a golf course, reportedly won a regime-sponsored “animation contest” commemorating the death of Qasem Soleimani, the top Iranian general eliminated in a 2020 U.S. drone strike ordered by Trump. Though Tehran’s recent military response was limited to a symbolic barrage of missiles at a U.S. base in Qatar—with advance warning and no casualties—intelligence officials caution that Iran’s long game often includes sleeper operations, assassinations, and cyberattacks. Still, Trump appeared unfazed. Known for favoring golf and spray tanning over sunbathing, the former—and potentially future—commander-in-chief laughed off the threat with reporters, exuding the same defiance that has defined his approach to Iran since ordering Soleimani’s killing. Behind the jokes, however, the gravity of the threat looms. Experts say Iran’s warning was no accident, and the rhetoric could be a signal of continued operational intent. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)