Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani has vowed thatTehranwill avenge the “blood of our leader” and warned that US President Donald Trump will “pay the price” for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the US-Iran-Israel conflict in the Middle East continues to escalate. Larijani’s remarks were quickly dismissed by Trump, who said he “couldn’t care less” about the threat.

Speaking to Iranian state television on Saturday, Larijani, a senior advisor to Khamenei, said Iran would not let the matter rest. Khamenei was killed in a US-Israeli strike on February 28, an attack that has since triggered a wave of retaliatory missile and drone strikes across the region.

“Trump got a taste of what happened in Venezuela and liked it, thinking he could quickly do the same in Iran. Now he’s stuck,” Larijani said.

“We will not leave him alone. He must pay the price for what he did. He killed our leader and martyred more than 1,000 of our people. This is not a simple matter,” Larijani said.

Reinforcing his message in a post on X, Larijani wrote that Iran would continue to pursue retaliation. “We won’t leave him alone until we reciprocate what he did,” he said.

Since Khamenei’s killing at the outset of the war, Larijani has emerged as one of Iran’s most prominent political figures.

Trump brushed aside Larijani’s comments, saying he did not even recognise the Iranian official. “I have no idea what he’s talking about, who he is. I couldn’t care less,” Trump told CBS News, adding that Larijani had “already been defeated.”

The US president also dismissed criticism from Iranian leaders more broadly, describing them as weak and losing influence in the region. Trump reiterated that US military operations would continue and insisted that Iran must accept an “unconditional surrender.”

Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian apologised to neighbouring countries for Tehran’s retaliatory strikes following the outbreak of the war. He said Iran had no intention of targeting other Persian Gulf states unless they were attacked first.

However, Pezeshkian later appeared to soften that apology, clarifying that Iran had not targeted its neighbours at all.

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