Iranian 'Blood Covenant' Raises $40M Bounty on Trump

An Iranian movement called the "Blood Covenant" is claiming to have crowdfunded more than $40 million as a reward for assassinating President Donald Trump, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

A website for the movement contained a poster of Trump in crosshairs with an appeal to donate "in order to ‘help establish stable peace,’" the nonprofit reported. It added that the poster quotes a verse from the Quran that reads, "Strive with your wealth and your lives in the cause of Allah."

"This is a call to jihad, inviting believers to donate their money and sacrifice their lives," MEMRI said. "The poster lends religious legitimacy to assassinating Trump."

The apparent threat comes weeks after the U.S. launched devastating airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. A U.S. Secret Service official told Fox News "We operate in a heightened and very dynamic threat environment and the safety and security of the President and all of our protectees remains our highest priority.

"To preserve operational integrity, we cannot comment on specific protective intelligence matters. However, our teams work around the clock with international, federal, state, and local partners to ensure the highest levels of protection," the official added.

MEMRI said "In Iran in recent days there has been an increase in explicit calls for assassinating Trump, from the Iranian regime's religious establishment, due allegedly to a threat by Trump to assassinate Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei – even though Trump said he had actually prevented such a move."

"These calls are backed by fatwas issued in late June by Iranian grand ayatollahs. The fatwas stated that the punishment for Trump is the same as for a muhareb – that is, an enemy of Allah and Islam – and that is death, and the permitting of his blood," it continued.

"Iranian regime officials, among them Assembly of Expert members who are close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, senior clerics and lecturers at the Howza-e Ilmiyya seminaries, and the regime's Friday preachers, are explicitly calling for Trump's assassination," MEMRI added.

"The fact that these calls to assassinate Trump are coming from above and being echoed in the street and through all strata of society, including in the Iranian media, underlines the depth and uniformity of the regime's institutional incitement," it also said. "It reflects a broad religious and regime consensus strengthened by reiterated emphasis of the reward anyone carrying out the punishment against Trump can expect to receive – in addition to the $40.3 million, also Paradise and the status of a defender of Islam."

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies alleged that an Iranian national and former employee for the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting – which it described as "the regime’s main propaganda network" – is behind the creation of the "Blood Covenant" website.

A senior State Department official said the Trump administration is aware of the threats against the president, according to the Washington Free Beacon.