Martina Navratilova rips Trump for Iran strikes but backs killing Khamenei

Women’s tennis legend Martina Navratilova weighed in on US-Israeli attacks on Iran on Saturday.

Navratilova, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, called him a “psychopath” for his decision to attack Iran in a post on X.

In response to a post by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green criticizing Trump for the attack, Navratilova wrote: “Oh my god… Trump is a psychopath; he doesn’t care how many deaths he is personally responsible for.”

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In a later post, Navratilova also expressed her support for the killing of Iran’s religious leader Ali Khamenei.

“That would be good news,” he wrote in response to an earlier report that Khamenei might be dead.

Khamenei was confirmed dead after his compound was reduced to rubble following an Israeli attack on Tehran on Saturday. Khamenei ruled the Islamic Republic for more than three decades, presiding over a period of bitter internal repression and conflict with the United States and Israel.

Navratilova had previously joined a coalition of athletes with Riley Gaines and signed a letter condemning the situation in November. Iranian regime Due to the death penalty of boxing champion Muhammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

Still, Navratilova leveled similar criticism at Trump following the January military attack on Venezuela and the capture of Nicolás Maduro.

“He is absolutely crazy. It goes without saying that this is completely illegal,” Navratilova wrote in a letter following Trump’s attack on Venezuela on January 4. he said. “Peace my president my a–! Trump breaks more laws than all previous presidents combined. He’s a serial criminal on so many different fronts!”

In her criticism of Trump, Navratilova cited her past as a refugee who fled the former Czechoslovakia to escape the totalitarian communist government. Navratilova said she left her homeland in 1975, citing her experiences under Soviet rule, disturbed by restrictions on personal freedoms.

Navratilova has compared Trump to her own country’s authoritarian rule in the past, including in the tennis legend’s pinned post on X.

“I grew up in a totalitarian authoritarian country and I will not vote for that now or ever,” he wrote in October 2024, referring to Trump.

Saturday’s attacks on Iran led to increased bipartisan pressure in Congress to rein in Trump’s war powers; Lawmakers in both parties have requested votes on resolutions aimed at limiting Trump’s authority to use military force in the region.

Members of both chambers He had already planned to force the vote before the first bombs fell on Saturday. They are now doubling down on calls to restrict the president’s military authority.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., repeatedly pushed for votes to restrict Trump’s war powers abroad and nearly succeeded in stopping further military action in Venezuela until Republicans blocked that effort earlier this year.

At home, Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky. and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., are preparing their own war powers resolutions to be put to a vote.

Massie said in a post on X that he was “opposed to this war. This is not ‘America First’.”

Trump called on the Iranian people to “take control” of the country’s government.

“This is the best chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country,” the President wrote. “We hear that most of the Revolutionary Guard, Army and other Security and Police Forces no longer want to fight and are seeking immunity from us. As I said last night, ‘Now they can have immunity, later they only get Death!'”

Trump said he hoped the IRGC and police would “peacefully unite” with Iranian patriots to restore stability in the country.

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“This process must begin soon, not only with the death of Khamenei, but also with the massive destruction and even destruction of the Country in just one day,” he wrote. “But heavy, precise bombardment will continue uninterrupted throughout the week or as long as is necessary to achieve our goal of PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND Indeed IN THE WORLD!”

Fox News’ Efrat Lachter, Ruth Marks Eglash, Alex Miller and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

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