Iranian propaganda paper threatens Trump, Pompeo after Rushdie stabbing

The Iranian newspaper Kayhan has published a front-page editorial claiming that former President Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo live in "fear" and "will pay" for the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani.

The editorial was published Saturday, following the stabbing of author Salman Rushdie, whose 1988 book "Satanic Verses" was deemed blasphemous by Iran's fundamentalist Shiite Muslim rulers. 

Kayhan, which is under the control of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, wrote in the editorial that Trump and Pompeo live "under the strict protection of the security forces for fear of Iran's revenge," as translated.

The two leaders should be "extremely worried" after Rushdie's stabbing, the paper asserted. Iran has denied involvement in the attack.

"The attack on Salman Rushdie showed that taking revenge on the perpetrators of crimes and criminals on American soil is not a difficult task, and after this, Trump and Pompeo will feel more threatened," Kayhan stated.

"Iranian authorities have repeatedly warned that the main perpetrators of the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani," the leader of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), "will pay for their crime and must be brought to justice," the paper said. 

Last week, the Justice Department brought charges against an IRGC member for allegedly plotting to murder former National Security Advisor John Bolton.