Full story
Dead-man’s-switch talk
President Donald Trump suggested he has left standing orders for the U.S. military to destroy Iran “at levels they’ve never seen before” if Tehran follows through on threats to kill him.
The Associated Press reported that the U.S. government has no way to create an automatic, preauthorized “dead man’s switch” that would prompt immediate retaliation, and instead said retaliation would be governed by the 25th Amendment and the Presidential Succession Act of 1947.
AP said that if Trump were killed, Vice President JD Vance would instantaneously become commander in chief and have authority for any retaliation, while noting there is also a chance Vance could decide not to follow Trump’s orders.
AP also reported that Trump posted on his social media website Saturday that Iran had made threats “to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate” him and that he said 1,000 “missiles 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.”
Retaliation and cabinet talks
The BBC said Iran’s Foreign Ministry accused Washington of violating the ceasefire in the southern regions of Iran over the past two days, while the White House announced that President Donald Trump would hold a 'rare' Cabinet meeting at the Camp David presidential retreat on Wednesday.
The BBC reported that a White House official told AFP that the meeting comes 'as the decisive phase of the talks with Iran approaches,' and said the Iranian Foreign Ministry described the ceasefire violations as 'in tandem with the diplomatic track.'
In Washington, the Associated Press reported that Trump’s suggestion of standing orders was tied to his claim that Iran made threats “to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate” him, and it described how Vance would be in position to authorize retaliation if Trump were killed.
The BBC also reported that CENTCOM said it targeted missile sites and boats it said were trying to plant mines south of Iran despite the ceasefire, and that Iranian media reported explosions in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas without identifying the source.
Oman, straits, and escalation
Kurdistan24 reported that Trump told the New York Post on Friday he had issued standing instructions to the U.S. military to launch an unprecedented attack against Iran if Tehran succeeds in an assassination plot against him, saying, "I've left instructions—if anything happens, to just literally bomb them at levels that they've never seen before."
The BBC reported that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that reaching a deal with Iran remains possible after talks in Qatar, and that he told reporters in Jaipur that “The President is eager to reach an agreement. Either we close a good deal or we don’t close any deal.”
The BBC also said Rubio warned that the straits should remain open and will continue to be open in one way or another, referencing the region's vital waterways, notably the Strait of Hormuz.
In parallel, Noon Post described how Oman became a focus of Trump’s threats, quoting Trump’s warning that “Oman will act like any other country, or we will bomb them. They understand that. And they will be all right.”
