Iran security official threatens Trump: 'Watch out for yourself'

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Mar 10, 2026

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A hard-line Iranian security official personally threatened President Donald Trump on Tuesday as the war raged on and the two nations traded charges over the Tehran’s chokehold on oil exports out of the Persian Gulf.

Ali Larijani, a top member of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, suggested Tehran might target Trump if the U.S. makes good on threats to unleash the “most intense” attacks of the war in hopes of restarting the flow of oil through the Straits of Hormuz.

“Iran does not fear your paper threats. Even those greater than you could not eliminate the Iranian nation,” Larijani tweeted. “Watch out for yourself — lest you be eliminated.”

Larijani, a former Revolutionary Guard commander, cryptically added that the Straits of Hormuz could “either be a Strait of peace and prosperity for all or will be a Strait of defeat and suffering for warmongers.”

He included a screenshot of Trump’s bellicose Monday night social media post in which the president warned he would hit Iran “twenty times harder” if Tehran attacks oil tankers.

“We will take out easily destroyable targets that will make it virtually impossible for Iran to ever be built back, as a nation, again,” Trump wrote. “Death, fire, and fury will (rain) upon them.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed Trump’s remarks on Tuesday, saying Iran would face the “most intense day” of attacks in the war that is nearing the end of its second week.

Israeli air strikes killed the former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on the first day of the war. His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was picked as a successor but has not been seen in public, leading to rumors that he’s been wounded.

Virtually no ships have traveled through the Straits of Hormuz since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28.

Iran says the waterway is not officially closed but oil shippers are concerned they could be targeted by drones or missiles if they try to pass.

Insurers have imposed dramatically higher rates on shippers if they enter the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the outside world, effectively making the journey economically unviable.

About 20% of the world’s oil supply normally passes through the Straits of Hormuz, meaning the prolonged shutdown amounts to a crisis for global energy markets.

Oil and stock markets have seesawed as traders ride a rollercoaster based on the rapidly shifting and contradictory statements issued by Trump and other officials about the war’s goals and when it might end.

Oil prices skyrocketed early Monday after Trump suggested the fight was just beginning but plunged when he said Monday that it was “very complete.”

He has at various times called for regime change and “unconditional surrender” of the Iranian regime but at other times has put forth more limited aims for the war, like eliminating Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile threats.