Iran’s Top Leaders Could be Taken Out With ‘One Shot’ at Khamenei's Funeral: Donald Trump

Washington DC/Tehran: US President Donald Trump has revealed that Washington has a rare window to eliminate Iran's entire leadership as they are gathering for the funeral of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — an opportunity he says the US is deliberately ignoring.

In an interview with Axios, Trump described the funeral gathering as effectively placing Iran's top brass within a single strike radius. "They are all there. One shot, and we can take them all out, but we are not going to do that because then we would have nobody to negotiate with," he said, framing the restraint as a calculated move to keep diplomatic channels open rather than a missed chance.

The comments land at a delicate moment, with Washington and Tehran still working through indirect negotiations in the aftermath of their recent war. Trump also weighed in on the scale of grief on display in Tehran, questioning whether the mourning was genuine given his belief that Khamenei was widely unpopular at home. "Maybe it's fake tears," he told Axios. He struck a more confident note on the negotiations themselves, insisting Tehran was the side under pressure to close a deal."They are begging to make a deal," he added. Both governments have quietly agreed to a one-week freeze on peace talks — and on any military moves — while funeral events run their course.

Tehran didn't let the remarks slide. Iran's embassy in Armenia fired back on X, telling Trump he lacked "civilization... history... honor" to grasp the moment.

The funeral itself doubled as a stage for hostility toward Washington. Iranian Poet Mohammad Rasouli, addressing a crowd running into the hundreds of thousands, demanded to know why "the most bastard man in the world" was still alive, referring to Donald Trump — a line that set off cheers and chants of "Death to America!" and "Death to Israel!" It was one of the first instances of a speaker openly wishing death on Trump from the funeral stage, which was also dotted with posters and graffiti aimed at Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Khamenei, who had led Iran for decades, was killed at 86 in a February 28 airstrike that opened countries the war with Israel and the US.