‘Few bullets into that empty skull’
WASHINGTON: It reads like fiction.
In Tehran, Kayhan, a hardline Iranian newspaper closely aligned with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, stunned even seasoned observers of US-Iran hostilities with a column that crossed a new red line: a unapologetic call for the assassination of Donald Trump.
“He’s way out of line! Any day now, in revenge for the blood of Martyr Soleimani, a few bullets are going to be fired into that empty skull of his and he’ll be drinking from the chalice of a cursed death,” the column read in Persian, as quoted by Fox News.
The editorial, placed prominently in the Dialogue section, didn’t stop at just threatening Trump.
It cast him as a warmongering force destabilising the globe, claiming that his death would be “welcomed by all righteous people,” singling out “the oppressed of Gaza” and “resistance forces” as those who would rejoice.
It was a direct retaliation message for Trump’s order in January 2020 to carry out a drone strike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, then head of the elite Quds Force.
The backlash was swift and unusually domestic.
Iran’s Press Supervisory Board, citing Article 6 of the country’s national press law, issued an official warning to Kayhan for publishing content that “threatens national security or undermines government interests.”
The Board’s censure was reinforced by the Ministry of Culture, which publicly condemned the article: “The Islamic Republic’s stance is clear: Soleimani’s case must be pursued legally. Publishing threats damages the country’s standing and gives our enemies ammunition.”
The author of the piece remains unnamed.
However, Kayhan’s editor-in-chief, Hossein Shariatmadari, a staunch conservative with deep ties to Khamenei’s circle, is believed to have either penned or approved the column.
The provocation—and Its timing
The op-ed’s publication didn’t occur in a vacuum.
Just days earlier, Trump had once again turned his attention to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, warning, “If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing.”
He followed up with the threat of imposing “secondary tariffs” if Iran didn’t comply.
Against this backdrop, Kayhan’s piece read less like spontaneous outrage.
The editorial also mocked Trump’s bluster: “He makes threats and then backs down! The result? The situation in America gets worse by the day.”
The piece even claimed Trump’s past actions had “caused $3 trillion in damage to the US economy.”
Kayhan’s long shadow
To be clear, Kayhan is no ordinary newspaper.
Often described as Iran’s loudest hardline megaphone, it has long opposed diplomatic overtures with the West.
Its editorials often verge on militaristic, aligning themselves with the country’s most conservative, ideologically rigid factions.
As Negar Mortazavi, Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy, put it: “Kayhan joked about Iran potentially intending to assassinate the US president, while the Iranian president officially stated that this is not the state’s policy.”
“Kayhan has always been critical of diplomacy and engagement with the West. And this satire piece is no exception to that trend”, he added.
But this time, the volume was turned too high, and the world noticed.
Where this all leads
Whether on nuclear negotiations, regional proxy conflicts, or the political future of Donald Trump himself, the temperature is rising.
For Iran, the internal backlash against Kayhan might seem like damage control. But for observers, it reveals deeper cracks within the country’s ruling elite.
But Kayhan maintained its stance in Sunday’s edition.
“Before a single shot has been fired, America’s local servants have already started trembling and lashing out at Kayhan,” the newspaper wrote.
Agencies