Iranian Ayatollah Calls For ‘The Shedding Trump’s Blood’

An Iranian ayatollah on Thursday called for the “shedding of Trump’s blood” in a message broadcast on Iranian state television. 

“We are now on the verge of a great test and we must be careful to fully preserve this unity, to fully preserve this alliance,” said Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli in the message, going on to call for “the shedding of Zionist blood, the shedding of Trump’s blood.”

Invoking the “Imam of the time,” Amoli said, “Fight the oppressive America, his blood is on my shoulders.” 

The remarks came a day after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said a commander of an Iranian unit that had allegedly plotted to assassinate Trump was killed in a U.S. strike. 

“While that was not the focus of the effort by any stretch of the imagination, in fact never raised by the president or anybody else, I ensured and others ensured that those who were responsible for that were eventually part of the target list,” Hegseth said during a press briefing on the war. 

In a separate development on Thursday, another Iranian official threatened the United States following the sinking of an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka by a U.S. naval torpedo strike.

“The U.S. has perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles away from Iran’s shores. Frigate Dena, a guest of India’s Navy carrying almost 130 sailors, was struck in international waters without warning. Mark my words: The U.S. will come to bitterly regret the precedent it has set,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi.

The Sri Lankan navy rescued 32 Iranians after the ship was sunk and transported them to a hospital, while recovering another 87 bodies from the water.

“We found people floating on the water,” Sri Lankan navy spokesman Commander Buddhika Sampath said, adding that there were only oil patches and life rafts left of the ship. 

The Department of War shared footage of the strike on social media on Wednesday. 

https://t.co/PiqQpVIrMu pic.twitter.com/Wc1e0B0um7

— Department of War ???????? (@DeptofWar) March 4, 2026

“An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,” Hegseth said. “Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo — quiet death — the first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II. Like in that war — back when we were still the War Department — we are fighting to win.”

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine added that the torpedo attack was an “incredible demonstration of America’s global reach” and only the kind of thing that the United States could do.