Trump Sparks Outrage After Shrugging Off Bombing Ayatollah's Family: 'I'm Not His Favorite Person, But He's a Professional'

Donald Trump sparked fresh outrage in Washington and online on Thursday after telling reporters at the White House that he would be 'honoured' to meet Iran's new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, despite a US strike that killed members of the ayatollah's family. Speaking in the Oval Office, the 79-year-old president brushed aside a question about whether the killing might fuel resentment, saying he was 'not his favourite person' but insisting Khamenei was 'a professional'.

The remarks came as Trump faced mounting political pressure over his three-month-old war against Iran. On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives approved a war powers resolution aimed at stopping further military action, with a handful of Republicans joining Democrats in a rare rebuke of the president.

The conflict has reshaped domestic politics and tested public patience, with critics calling it a 'war of choice' that has driven up costs at the gas pump and in supermarkets.

Trump's Remarks

Trump's latest controversy began when reporters asked whether he would be open to meeting Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. According to the Irish Star, the president said such a face-to-face meeting could be possible if it helped secure a deal with Tehran.

'I don't want to meet, but if I did meet, I'd be honoured to meet him,' Trump said. 'I'd like to see if we make a deal, but if we make a deal, it's possible that I would meet him. I'd be okay with it.'

When pressed on where such a meeting might take place, he was vague. 'I don't know. I haven't really heard too much about it,' he told reporters, adding that he had not personally proposed the idea. 'If it happened, it would be happening. I'd be respectful.'

The exchange took a sharper turn when Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy raised the human cost of the conflict, referring to the US operation, code-named 'Epic Fury', that killed Khamenei's father, wife and child. Doocy asked whether Trump thought the ayatollah 'has hard feelings.'

Trump's response stunned many viewers. 'Well, I would say I'm not his favourite person, but with that being said, he's probably a professional,' the president said. 'In some circles he has a very good reputation, actually.'

He then shifted to his own complaints about criticism. 'Sometimes when people say bad, but a lot of people say bad about me. It's totally false, of course.'

None of Trump's claims about Khamenei's 'very good reputation' have been independently verified in the reporting, and the White House has not issued a formal transcript expanding on what he meant. Khamenei's office has not publicly responded, so any suggestion about how he may view a possible meeting remains speculative.

Online Backlash

Reaction online was fast and fierce, with many zeroing in on Trump's use of the word 'professional' to describe a cleric they see as leading a brutal regime.

'Is he insane? What is wrong with him?' one critic wrote on X. 'He thinks a fanatic mullah leading a terrorist death cult that massacres its own people and chants death to America is a professional? A professional what? Jihadist? Mass murderer? Is he totally losing his mind?'

Another user focused on Trump's lack of empathy for those killed in the strike. 'Trump musing about meeting the man whose family he had bombed,' they wrote. 'How anyone thinks this sociopath gives a f--k about them or anyone else is beyond me.'

A third said Trump cares more about status than supporters, while others took issue with his claim that criticism of him is 'totally false.' One user posted: 'Nobody is saying false things about you, the fact is that you killed his parents unjustly.'

Another added: 'I'm sure if the tables were turned, Trump would expect everyone to be professional about it.'

War Powers Fight

The online uproar unfolded against a difficult backdrop for the administration. Trump's remarks came a day after the House of Representatives backed a war powers resolution to limit his ability to continue the Iran campaign.

'Enough is enough,' Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said as he led the push. 'It is time for the president to do the right thing. The people are tired of suffering because of his war of choice, suffering at the gas pump, suffering at the supermarkets.'

It was the fourth time the House had tried to claw back authority over the US war against Iran, according to the report. House Speaker Mike Johnson had earlier tried to prevent an embarrassing defeat for the president by abruptly shutting down floor action two weeks ago, when the resolution looked likely to pass.

That delay did little to ease the pressure. As casualties mounted abroad and costs rose at home, a small but crucial group of Republicans eventually crossed the aisle.

Critics on X linked Trump's comments directly to that wider sense of drift. 'He seems very disconnected to the fact that he killed this man's family,' one user wrote. 'Like for real, do you think Trump would meet this guy if he assassinated his sons or daughter? Hell no.'

Another doubted there would be any appetite in Tehran for a handshake photo opportunity. 'I don't think the Ayatollah is that keen on meeting Trump,' they posted. 'He killed his father, his wife and his little daughter. And that the USA/Trump killed 165 schoolgirls aged 8 to 11. What a clown.'

The figure of 165 schoolgirls has not been independently verified in the available reporting and should be treated as an allegation from a social media user rather than an established fact.

What is clear is that Trump described the man whose family he ordered killed as 'probably a professional' and said he would be 'honoured' to meet him. For opponents already enraged by a grinding conflict, it only deepened the sense that he remains detached from the human cost of the war being fought in his name.