‘Revenge is certain’: Iranian newspaper publishes ‘hit list’ naming Trump, Netanyahu
Hamshahri depicted 13 US, Israeli and European officials in prison uniforms as Mojtaba Khamenei renewed Iran’s pledge to avenge his father’s killing
A newspaper owned by Tehran’s municipality published an AI-generated graphic Saturday depicting US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in orange prison uniforms with crosshairs on their foreheads, under the slogan “Revenge is certain.”
The Hamshahri graphic presented 13 US, Israeli and European political and military figures as responsible for the killing of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the US-Israeli strike that opened the war on February 28.
Alongside Trump and Netanyahu, the image featured US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
Defense Minister Israel Katz, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir were also shown in prison uniforms, as were Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The inclusion of the four European leaders extended the newspaper’s implied revenge list beyond the US and Israeli officials associated most directly with the war.
The graphic appeared shortly after Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, issued his first public message since his father’s funeral ceremonies began, pledging retaliation against those responsible for his killing.
“We pledge to avenge the blood of the martyred leader and all the martyrs of these two wars from the criminal and disgraced killers,” Khamenei said in the written statement, which was read on Iranian state television.
He described vengeance as “the demand of the nation” and said it “must certainly” take place, adding that “soon every free person around the world will fulfill a part of this divine mission.”