Iran just crossed a line it cannot walk back.

In a stunning and brazen broadcast, Iranian state television aired an image of Donald Trump alongside a Persian caption translating to “This time, it won’t miss.” There was no ambiguity. No satire. No plausible deniability. This was a direct assassination threat against the President of the United States, delivered by a state run mouthpiece of the Iranian regime.

This is not some rogue social media account or fringe militant group. This was Iranian state television. When a regime puts a message like that on air, it is intentional. It is signaling hostility at the highest level.

The timing is not an accident either. Iran is cracking down hard at home. Protesters are being killed. Thousands have been arrested. The internet has been shut down. Starlink terminals are being seized. The regime is losing control, and history shows that when tyrannies feel cornered, they lash out.

Instead of backing down, Tehran chose escalation.

Iran has a long record of using threats, proxies, and violence to project power when it feels weak. Broadcasting a threat against Trump fits that pattern perfectly. It is meant to intimidate, provoke, and rally hardliners inside the regime.

But here is the problem for Iran. This is not a country dealing with a timid leader. Trump does not ignore threats. He does not negotiate from fear. And he does not forget.

This is deadly serious. Threatening the life of a U.S. president is not rhetoric. It is an act of hostility. And when it comes from a foreign regime already on the brink, it signals desperation.

Iran wanted attention. It got it. What happens next will determine whether this was just another empty threat or the moment the regime finally sealed its own fate.