United States President, Donald Trump, announced on Friday that his administration will revoke Harvard University’s tax-exempt status, intensifying his ongoing conflict with the Ivy League institution.

“They deserve it!” Trump declared in a brief post on Truth Social, signaling a potential escalation in the legal confrontation.

Trump has attempted to pressure universities by threatening to withhold federal research funding unless they implement sweeping reforms that would increase his administration’s oversight.

In parallel, the State Department and immigration authorities have taken aim at international students—revoking thousands of visas and detaining several students in widely publicized incidents.

In mid-April, the Trump administration announced it would halt $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard University, the nation’s oldest and wealthiest institution.

In response, Harvard filed a lawsuit, denouncing the government’s actions as “unprecedented and improper.”

At the same time, Trump openly suggested revoking Harvard’s tax-exempt status, a privilege commonly extended to public and private colleges and universities.

“Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!” he wrote on Truth Social on April 15.

According to The New York Times last month, the Treasury Department urged the Internal Revenue Service to evaluate whether Harvard’s tax-exempt status should be revoked.

Around the same time, Trump’s Homeland Security secretary also threatened to strip the university of its ability to issue student visas to its international students.

A Harvard spokesperson responded on Friday to Trump’s latest threat, stating, “there is no legal basis to rescind Harvard’s tax-exempt status.”

“Such an unprecedented action would endanger our ability to carry out our educational mission,” the spokesperson said in a statement to NBC News.

“The unlawful use of this instrument more broadly would have grave consequences for the future of higher education in America.”