Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has previously called for "death to America." (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via Reuters)
"The hatred and rage of the Muslim people is directed toward America, the infidel Satanic regime," Iranians chanted in 2007 ahead of a speech by then-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"Saying 'Death to America' is easy. We need to express 'Death to America' with action," Ahmadinejad's successor, former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, said in 2013.
Iranian lawmakers chanted "death to America" while in the Parliament in 2019, and again in 2020, after Trump ordered a strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, while "death to America" chants have also broken out on U.S. soil following Hamas' war on Israel that began in 2023. Iranians additionally commonly chant the phrase during their annual "Death to America Day" each November, videos show.
President Donald Trump stops and talks to the media before he boards Marine One following Israel launching strikes on Iran in June. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
The slogan has been accompanied by similar "death" calls on Israel and protesters burning American flags on the streets of Tehran while holding photos honoring Khamenei.
IRANIAN DICTATOR’S MOUTHPIECE INCITES FIRING BULLETS INTO TRUMP’S ‘EMPTY SKULL’
The slogan most recently has been used since Israel launched preemptive strikes on Iran on June 12 following months of stalled negotiations related to Iran's nuclear program and mounting concern the Islamic Republic would imminently have their hands on a nuclear weapon. The U.S. did not actively participate in the strikes on June 12 and the subsequent days, but warned Iran the U.S. could become involved if Iran did not make a deal for peace.
"The US President threatens us," Khamenei wrote on X of Trump June 18. "With his absurd rhetoric, he demands that the Iranian people surrender to him. They should make threats against those who are afraid of being threatened. The Iranian nation isn’t frightened by such threats."
"It isn’t wise to tell the Iranian nation to surrender. What should the Iranian nation surrender to?" he continued. "We will never surrender in response to the attacks of anyone."
Iranians were seen on the streets of Tehran in June chanting "death to Israel and America" ahead of the U.S.' strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Trump announced Saturday evening in a surprise Truth Social post that the U.S. had successfully executed strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities, which he said were "obliterated" and backed the country into a corner to strike a peace deal.
TRUMP ADDRESSES NATION ON 'SPECTACULAR MILITARY SUCCESS' OF US STRIKES ON IRANIAN NUCLEAR FACILITIES
"A short time ago, the U.S. military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime: Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan," Trump said from the White House in an address to the nation just hours after the Truth Social announcement. "Everybody heard those names for years as they built this horribly destructive enterprise. Our objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity, and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror. Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success."
Trump specifically cited Iran's decades of calling for America's death in his address to the nation following the successful strikes Saturday evening.
"For 40 years, Iran has been saying, ‘Death to America. Death to Israel.’ They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs with roadside bombs," Trump said on Saturday evening from the White House. "That was their specialty. We lost over a thousand people, and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East and around the world have died as a direct result of their hate in particular."
"I decided a long time ago that I would not let this happen. It will not continue," he said.
A demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei following Israel launching strikes on Iran on June 12. (ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)
Tensions are still flaring in the Middle East, as both Israel and Iran accuse each other of violating the ceasefire on Tuesday morning, with Trump urging them to put down their weapons while triumphantly declaring Iran's nuclear capabilities have been crippled. Trump remarked to the media while traveling to a NATO summit at The Hague that he was "not happy" with Israel or Iran for the spiking tensions following the ceasefire agreement.
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"I'm not happy with Israel. You know, when I say, okay, now you have 12 hours, you don't go out in the first hour and just drop everything you have on them. So I'm not happy with them. I'm not happy with Iran either, but I'm really unhappy if Israel is going out this morning," Trump said.
"We basically have two countries that have been fighting for so long and so hard that they don't know what the **** they're doing," he added in fiery comment underscored by profanity.
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