From today’s Washington Free Beacon newsletter, now posted here every day on Substack (links omitted):
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Bold strategy, Khamenei:: When Tucker Carlson interviewed Masoud Pezeshkian, the Iranian president dismissed two new fatwas the Islamic Republic’s clerical leaders issued against Donald Trump, saying they were political condemnations, not assassination authorizations. So much for that.
A new Iranian organization dubbed the “Blood Covenant” claims to have raised nearly $40.3 million as a bounty on Trump’s head, our Adam Kredo reports. Its Iran-based website, which was promoted in the state-controlled and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-affiliated Fars News Agency, featured a poster of Trump in crosshairs alongside a graphic showing the money raised for his killing.
The “Blood Covenant” group operates “under the aegis of the Iranian regime” and poses a legitimate threat given Tehran’s resources, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute, which monitors jihadi movement in the region. Indeed, a senior State Department official told us that the administration is aware of the threats and is prepared to “hold bad actors accountable,” including through sanctions.
