Trump tells reporter she’ll be killed if Iran strikes Air Force One: ‘If I go, you go’

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President Trump on Wednesday told a reporter aboard Air Force One that she would also be killed if Iran struck the jet, as tensions rise once again between the U.S. and Tehran.

Trump, during a gaggle on the plane after leaving the NATO summit in Turkey, was pressed about security concerns relating to the plane after the U.S. launched fresh strikes on Iran. When a reporter asked about the risk of an Iranian attack, the president responded that he faces “a threat all the time.”

“I’m No. 1 on their list, before you” he continued. “But if I go, you go. So, perhaps — perhaps some of you want to change professions.”

Trump left Turkey late Wednesday on the older Air Force One, instead of the new Qatari-gifted jet, in light of the potential risks.

Tit-for-tat strikes intensified overnight Thursday, as each side accuses the other of violating the terms of the 60-day ceasefire established under a memorandum of understanding that the nations signed last month.

Trump told reporters earlier that day he would “probably” go through with the military operation after three oil tankers were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz.

“We’re going to hit them hard tonight,” he said at the time.

U.S. Central Command (Centcom) said the strikes were meant to “further degrade [Iran’s] ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.” It also said the U.S. was “holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway.”

On Wednesday, an Iranian official advised Gulf states that Tehran had “no red lines” concerning its defense. The comments followed a threat from Trump about a “big attack” on the Islamic Republic in retaliation for its attacks on commercial ships and a reinstatement of the naval blockade on the strait — a critical oil trading corridor.

“The Gulf states that have stood alongside Trump in the Iran-America regime conflict should watch over their oil and gas wells,” Ebrahim Rezaei, a spokesperson for the Iranian Parliament on national security and foreign policy, said on the social platform X.

“In defense of the security of the great Iranian nation, we have no red lines,” he added.

The president also signaled on Wednesday that the ceasefire is “over,” which led to surges in oil prices.

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