{"id":138562,"date":"2026-07-11T13:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T19:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/trump-suggests-a-standing-order-to-attack-iran-if-it-assassinates-him-but-vance-would-make-the-ca\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T13:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T19:17:09","slug":"trump-suggests-a-standing-order-to-attack-iran-if-it-assassinates-him-but-vance-would-make-the-ca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/trump-suggests-a-standing-order-to-attack-iran-if-it-assassinates-him-but-vance-would-make-the-ca\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump suggests a standing order to attack Iran if it assassinates him. But Vance would make the call"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A
A mourner carries a sign reading "We Will Kill Trump" as people make their way to the funeral procession of the slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, Iran, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump<\/a> is suggesting he has left standing orders for the U.S. military to destroy Iran \u201c at levels they’ve never seen before<\/a> \u201d if Tehran follows through on its long-standing threats to kill him.<\/p>\n

But the U.S. government has no way to create an automatic, preauthorized \u201cdead man\u2019s switch\u201d that would prompt immediate retaliation.<\/p>\n

Instead, if Trump were killed, the transfer of power to his successor is governed by the 25th Amendment<\/a> and the Presidential Succession Act of 1947<\/a>. Vice President JD Vance<\/a> instantaneously would become commander in chief and have authority for any retaliation.<\/p>\n

Under such a scenario, Vance could do exactly what Trump called for, though there also is a chance he could decide not to follow his predecessor’s orders \u2014 or offer a direct response in a different way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.S. has, for a whole variety of reasons, never utilized a technical \u2018dead man\u2019s switch,’\u201d said Garrett M. Graff, author of \u201cRaven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government\u2019s Secret Plan to Save Itself — While the Rest of Us Die.\u201d<\/p>\n

The United States does have extensive contingency plans for continuity of government in the event of a nuclear attack or other major catastrophe that wipes out most or all of Washington. But those plans also do not allow for immediately launching retaliatory strikes upon the death of a president, even if that president had demanded that the military be ready to do so.<\/p>\n

Trump nonetheless posted on his social media website Saturday that Iran had made threats \u201cto assassinate, or attempt to assassinate\u201d him and he said 1,000 \u201cmissiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei,<\/a> said hours later that Iranians would continue to avenge the killing of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei<\/a>. The elder Khamenei died in the initial U.S. and Israeli strikes that stared the war in late February, and he was mourned in funeral events throughout Iran this week. His son said retaliation \u201cis the will of our nation and must certainly be carried out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe pledge to take revenge for the pure blood of you and all the martyrs of these two wars from the criminal and disgraceful killers,” he said on remarks aired on state television. “This revenge is the will of our nation and must certainly be carried out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The White House on Saturday did not immediately answer questions about what would become of Trump’s military orders should he be killed.<\/p>\n

During those recent funeral events, mourners repeatedly held posters or banners<\/a> calling for Trump to be killed along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.<\/p>\n

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Israel alerted U.S. officials to fresh Iranian plots to kill Trump. The White House has refused to comment, but Trump appeared to reference to such threats in comments during this week’s NATO summit in Turkey, saying, \u201cThey want to take out the U.S. leader \u2014 me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sabrina Singh, former Biden administration deputy Pentagon press secretary, said \u201cIran wanting to target senior American leaders is something that we know is happening.”<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to take these as credible threats,\u201d Singh said.<\/p>\n

US retaliations would almost certainly come, just not automatically <\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump was targeted in two domestic assassination attempts<\/a> during the 2024 presidential campaign and saw a gunman storm<\/a> the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner he was attending in April.<\/p>\n

The president flew part of the way back to Washington<\/a> from Turkey this week aboard an older Air Force One jet rather a new Qatari-gifted aircraft<\/a>, raising fresh security questions about the newer plane. Images of the jet, which was retrofitted at an estimated cost of $400 million, show it is not equipped<\/a> with some of the same missile detection and countermeasure systems as earlier versions.<\/p>\n

The swap occurred as the U.S. and Iran once again began trading strikes<\/a>, jeopardizing last month’s initial deal to end the war<\/a>. Asked about Iranian threats, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, \u201cI\u2019m No. 1 on their list.”<\/p>\n

Graff said the U.S. prepared years of plans for how nuclear launch authority would devolve in the event of a surprise attack. That included, during 30 years of the Cold War, the country keeping fleets of airborne command posts flying 24 hours a day with a general aboard one of them who could take over nuclear launch orders in the event Washington was lost.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I believe Trump is saying is that he\u2019s left standing orders to attack if he\u2019s killed, e.g., that the Pentagon should proceed with standard launch protocols,\u201d Graff said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of reason to doubt the legality of such standing orders, since in the event of a president\u2019s death, the nuclear launch authority would immediately pass to the vice president or designated successor \u2014 and ultimately it would be up to him or her to determine whether to proceed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s post only refers to firing missiles at Iran, which the U.S. has done scores of time since its war with Iran began. He did not expressly threaten involving nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n

Graff said that, in addition to leaving standing orders in case of his death, Trump also might say \u201csomething to Vance like, \u2018If I\u2019m killed, nuke Iran,'” and that would make \u201dmore sense and would be absolutely legal\u201d<\/p>\n

Biden administration once warned Iran about Trump, too <\/strong><\/p>\n

Washington receiving credible threats against the president and top U.S. leaders from Iran and other foreign adversaries is not uncommon and is often disclosed via national security briefings or other classified means. But far less common is Trump declaring publicly that he personally has been targeted by Iran.<\/p>\n

Still, this is not the first time Washington has threatened Iran over threats against Trump.<\/p>\n

In 2022, the Biden administration warned Iran against attacking U.S. citizens after the Justice Department’s disclosure that a member of Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had planned to assassinate John Bolton, Trump’s first-term national security adviser. Now a Trump critic, Bolton last month pleaded guilty<\/a> to illegally retaining classified documents in a case led by Trump\u2019s Justice Department.<\/p>\n

President Joe Biden\u2019s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in 2022 that \u201cshould Iran attack any of our citizens, to include those who continue to serve the United States or those who formerly served, Iran will face severe consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two years later, in the heat of Trump\u2019s campaign against Democrat Kamala Harris, Biden’s vice president, the Biden administration again quietly warned Iran. This time, officials made clear that an attack on Trump would be considered an act of war.<\/p>\n

\"A
A woman holds a sign reading "We'll Kill Trump" while waiting in Islamic Revolution Square for the funeral procession of the slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei beneath a billboard depicting Khamenei in Tehran, Iran, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo\/Altaf Qadri)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Altaf Qadri)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mourners
Mourners write messages on a wall, including one in English that reads "We will kill Trump," during the funeral ceremonies for slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of his family at the Imam Khomeini Mosalla Grand Mosque in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Altaf Qadri)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Altaf Qadri)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"President
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in flight on Air Force One after landing at U.S. Air Force Base at RAF Mildenhall, in Suffolk Eastern England, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Vice
Vice President JD Vance speaks on the flight deck of the USS Kearsarge (LHD-3) in the New York harbor during The International Naval Review honoring America's 250th Anniversary, Saturday, July 4, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo\/Frank Franklin II)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Frank Franklin II)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A mourner carries a sign reading "We Will Kill Trump" as people make their way to the funeral procession of the slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, Iran, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)(AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi) WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump is suggesting he has left standing orders for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":138563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-138562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138562"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=138562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}