On January 4, 2020, the President of the United States threatened to destroy Iranian cultural sites in a tweet.

"Iran has been nothing but problems for many years," he wrote. "Let this serve as a WARNING that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!"