Trump shrugs off Iranian threat to strike him while sunbathing

US President Donald Trump dismissed a threat from an Iranian politician during a press conference Wednesday, responding with humor when asked about a potential drone strike targeting him while sunbathing at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Asked by Fox News reporter Peter Doocy whether he considered the threat real, Trump cracked a smile. “It’s been a long time. I don’t know, maybe I was around seven or so. I’m not too big into it,” he said. “Yeah, I guess it’s a threat. I’m not sure it’s a threat actually, but perhaps it is.”

The remarks were in response to comments made by Mohammad-Javad Larijani, a senior Iranian politician, who suggested in an interview on Iranian state television that Trump could be an easy drone target while lying in the sun at his Florida property.

“Trump has done something so that he can no longer sunbathe in Mar-a-Lago,” Larijani said. “As he lies there with his stomach to the sun, a small drone might hit him in the navel. It’s very simple.”

Larijani, whose family has long held powerful roles within the Islamic Republic, made the statement amid escalating rhetoric from Iranian hardliners and religious figures, many of whom have called for retaliation against Trump and 'Israeli' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for what they see as direct threats to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s life.

Tensions surged following recent US strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites, carried out shortly after Trump publicly stated that American intelligence knew Khamenei’s location during the conflict.