President Donald Trump has asserted that the US will resume attacks on Iran after insufficient progress in negotiations to end the war. “We’re going to be attacking them, attacking them very hard,” Trump said in the Oval Office.
He suggested that the downing of a US Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz is pretext for the renewed strikes. “Based on the helicopter, I guess we have the right to do that,” he told reporters.
“We hit them hard yesterday. We’re going to hit them again hard today, in case you miss it, in case you don’t turn on your television set, and we’ll see what happens with the deal. We were really close to a deal — but they keep tapping us along. They keep playing us for suckers because you know what? They dealt with some very stupid Presidents.”
Donald Trump
Trump bemoaned slow-going talks with Tehran on an agreement to end the war, which he said were ongoing. “I’ve been working with Iran for a number of months,” he said.
“They should sign the deal. It’s a good deal. It was just tap, tap, tap. I don’t know what they’re doing.”
Donald Trump
Trump iterated that all Iran has to do is “start signing a paper” to reach a deal with the United States.
“All they have to do, is they have to start signing a paper. It’s fully negotiated,” he said in the Oval Office.“We have a fully negotiated — but they’re tapping and tapping, and they say, ‘All right, let’s give them a couple of more days.’ They’re tapping because it’s a meaningful paper.”
Donald Trump
After insisting for weeks that a peace deal between the United States and Iran is close, Trump has escalated his rhetoric against Tehran, suggesting that time has run out to reach a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
On Tuesday, the US military began striking targets inside Iran in response to the overnight downing of a helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz. Trump has since suggested that the US attacks may continue. Iran responded to the latest US strikes by launching missiles against bases that host US forces in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.
While such back-and-forth attacks over the past few weeks have remained contained and wrapped up quickly, Trump’s comments suggest that the latest episode of fighting may not be over. That, in turn, has raised questions about whether the April 8 ceasefire has unravelled.
Meanwhile, Trump said earlier today that that Iran has been “completely defeated.”
“Iran’s Military is a complete and total mess. Much of it, like their Navy and Air Force, doesn’t even exist anymore – They have been completely defeated. Iran is all talk and no action. The Bully of the Middle East is DEAD!!! They’ve taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!”
Donald Trump
Iranian officials have stressed that they will not sign an agreement that does not recognise their country’s “rights.” Tehran has also suggested that it is not afraid to return to war. Despite Trump’s assertion that Iran is militarily defeated, Tehran has been able to respond to US attacks and maintain its blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, which has sent energy prices soaring.
Haji Babaei, Deputy Speaker of the Iranian parliament, said today that diplomacy will work only when the “demands of the Iranian nation” are met. “America will lose in the economic and military war,” Babaei was quoted as saying by the state news agency.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also said that Iran “must move” beyond the current state of “no war, no peace” in the region, but he stressed that his country “will not yield” in the face of threats.
Trump Hints Barrels Of Oil Moved Out
Moreover, The U.S. President seemed to say that “millions of barrels of oil” have been secreted past Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz, helping to ease energy price pressures.
“Do you know, we’ve been taking out millions of barrels of oil? Nobody knows it. You know who doesn’t know about it? Iran. Until right now. We took out the other night, 22 ships late at night with no lights, because they don’t have any radar, because we blasted the crap out of it.”
Donald Trump
The President said that U.S. forces have been removing millions of barrels of oil on a nightly basis, and he had previously “wanted to say it so badly.”
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