On June 22, 2026, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM) published a new report about an Algerian journalist writing in a post on X that Iran’s Supreme Leader has an “irrevocable religious obligation” to target U.S. President Trump.
On June 21, 2026, Paris-based liberal Algerian journalist Anwar Malek claimed in a post on X that Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei had declared an irrevocable religious obligation to kill all Israeli, American and Gulf leaders involved in the killing of his father, Ali Khamenei.
Malek quoted an unnamed Hizbullah-affiliated Lebanese journalist, who told him that Mojtaba Khamenei’s first decision following his recovery was to declare an irrevocable religious obligation to target U.S. President Donald Trump and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Other designated targets included American and Israeli military and intelligence commanders, the leaders of the Arab Gulf countries, and Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa. According to the journalist, they are to be assassinated “to avenge his father.”
Malek reported that the Lebanese journalist acknowledged the gravity of his report and claimed that such a measure was to be expected in light of Iran’s decision to seek revenge against Trump following the January 2020 targeted killing of Qasem Soleimani. He added that he expects the religious obligation to be “similar to or stronger than” former Iranian Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini’s fatwa against the British author Salman Rushdie.
