Giant billboards appeared this morning in central Tehran displaying President Trump as a prisoner and senior members of his administration alongside Prime Minister Netanyahu shown wounded and bloodstained. The displays went up in the midst of ongoing talks between Washington and Tehran, and one day after American strikes in the Strait of Hormuz.
The main text on the first billboard does not stop at showing Trump as a prisoner: the message above it is an explicit threat, "We will kill Trump." The massive billboard was erected in Enqelab Square (Revolution Square) in central Tehran, one of the main traffic and gathering points in Iran's capital.
A second billboard placed nearby shows Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, US envoy Steve Witkoff and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with bloodstained faces, torn clothing, and behind them tattered American and Israeli flags. Photographs from the scene show dozens of people gathering beneath the billboards, waving red flags and carrying placards reading "There will be more blood." Participants called for revenge following the killing of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in American and Israeli strikes on February 28, when the war broke out.
According to reports from the French news agency, the new messages appeared against the backdrop of renewed diplomatic efforts to reach an arrangement between Washington and Tehran. This came one day after the United States carried out defensive strikes against Iranian targets on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, following Revolutionary Guard fire toward an American aircraft, according to American sources.
Meanwhile, Trump actually tried to downplay the severity of the confrontation. In an interview with Fox News, the American president said that "there hasn't been an exchange of fire in months," and described the situation as "a very soft war." He even made clear that as far as he is concerned, the possibility of reaching an agreement with Iran still exists.
This is not the first time Tehran has used giant billboards and public displays to convey threatening messages against the American president. At Tajrish Square in the north of the city, an exhibition was displayed that included paintings of Trump lying bleeding on the ground, as well as a life-size prison cell in which sat an actor disguised as the American president.
