President Donald Trump said Sunday that recent U.S. military strikes against Iran’s leadership were carried out before Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei could succeed in what he described as repeated efforts to target him.

“I got him before he got me. They tried twice. Well, I got him first,” Trump said during an interview with ABC News.

The remarks come amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran, following expanded American military operations aimed at senior figures within Iran’s ruling structure. Trump indicated that the strikes significantly altered the country’s leadership hierarchy.

According to the president, individuals viewed as potential successors within Iran’s governing apparatus had been identified prior to the operation but were killed in the initial assault. “The attack was so successful it knocked out most of the candidates,” Trump said. “It’s not going to be anybody that we were thinking of because they are all dead. Second or third place is dead.”

The comments also revive scrutiny of alleged Iranian efforts to target Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign. In 2024, U.S. prosecutors charged multiple individuals in connection with what authorities described as Iran-linked assassination plots against then-candidate Trump.

The Department of Justice said operatives tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sought to recruit individuals inside the United States to carry out attacks. Prosecutors alleged the efforts were intended as retaliation for the 2020 U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.

In one case outlined by federal authorities, a suspect allegedly attempted to hire individuals he believed were hit men but who were, in fact, undercover FBI agents operating as part of a sting. Prosecutors characterized the alleged activity as part of a broader Iranian campaign to target current and former U.S. officials. Iranian officials have denied involvement in the plots.

Trump’s latest statements frame the recent military action as both a national security measure and a direct response to what he has described as persistent threats against his life.