Iran hoists giant Tehran billboard vowing to kill Trump

Tehran has gone loud again. Iran unveiled a towering billboard over Enghelab Square on Nov 3 declaring its intent to kill US President Donald Trump, flanked by banners across the capital's busiest streets. The sign shows Trump behind bars, head bowed — state messaging cranked to a level rarely seen even by Iranian standards.

It wasn't a lone poster. A second billboard nearby put Trump alongside Vice-President J.D. Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — all with bloodied faces and torn suits, posed against faded Israeli and US flags. Dozens of people filled the square, waving red flags and carrying banners that read 'There will be blood,' calling for revenge for slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed in US-Israeli strikes on Feb 28 that set off the wider Middle East war.

The capital has turned into something of a rolling exhibition. Across northern Tehran's Tajrish Square, an open-air display featured paintings of Trump — one with his bloodied face on the ground under a boot, another with a bomb covering his features. A life-sized jail cell replica stayed on display with an actor playing Trump inside for the day, while a screen next to it looped footage of damage from US strikes on Iran.

Tehran's official line is that Trump deliberately hit civilian sites during the war, including a school and a wedding ceremony, killing dozens of people, among them women and children. The billboards follow a long tradition of state-sponsored murals dating back to the 1979 Islamic revolution, used to honour allies, celebrate military figures and needle adversaries — chiefly the US and Israel.

The timing lands in a delicate stretch. Renewed diplomatic efforts are under way to get Tehran and Washington to the table and head off another round of fighting that has already spread across the region and pushed global prices up. Trump has said a deal 'could happen' — and on the same day the billboards stood over Tehran, he was facing crucial US midterm elections, with voter discontent partly driven by the Iran war.