Trump claims Iran or ‘somebody else’ could have carried out deadly school strike | Donald Trump
As oil prices rose amid a widening war with Iran, Donald Trump suggested Monday, without evidence, that an attack on an Iranian elementary school may have been carried out by Iran or “someone else.”
During back-to-back demonstrations in Florida, Trump was asked whether the United States would take responsibility for the attack that struck the school and killed scores of people, most of them children, after video evidence showed a U.S. Tomahawk striking a nearby naval base.
In response, the president claimed that the bombing was carried out by Iran or “someone else.”
“I was told this is being investigated, but Tomahawks are being used by others,” Trump said. “As you know, many other nations also have Tomahawks. They buy them from us.”
Trump said the US was taking a “little trip” to the Middle East “to get rid of some bad things” but suggested the war, now in its second week, was ahead of schedule and close to completion.
But as the economic toll of the joint US-Israeli operation deepens, Trump has suggested that the US may take extraordinary action, such as lifting oil sanctions on “some countries” to ease prices. The US treasury has issued a 30-day exemption allowing India to buy Russian oil from tankers stranded at sea.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said that the United States would not allow Iran to “hold the world hostage” because of oil.
“We’re going to hit them so hard that neither they nor anyone helping them will be able to save that part of the world if they do anything,” the US president said.
A video published by the Iranian news agency Mehr geolocated to the site investigative collective BellingcatThis, along with other evidence from the site, indicates that the primary school in Minab was hit during a series of US strikes targeting the adjacent Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) naval base. Ordnance experts told the Guardian that the missile shown in the video was clearly a Tomahawk used only by the US in the current conflict.
Asked by a reporter why he suggested Iran was responsible, Trump replied: “Because I don’t know enough about it.”
The strike destroyed nearly half of the school and killed dozens of girls ages 7 to 12 who were attending morning classes.
Trump said Monday he was “willing to live” regardless of the outcome of the investigation.
In his speech on Monday, Trump boasted about the success of Operation Epic Rage, which the United States launched together with Israel on February 28.
“We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough,” he told House Republicans, who are holding their annual legislative session at the president’s golf resort in Miami.
“We are moving forward more determinedly than ever to achieve the final victory that will put an end to this long-standing danger once and for all.”
Trump rejected criticism from some Democratic officials that his administration lacked a justification for U.S.-Israeli military action against Iran.
“I’ll tell you the best reason,” he said. “They were 100% going to attack us within a week. They were ready.”
But the president offered no new evidence to support his claim that the United States acted preemptively to prevent an imminent attack, but said Iran had “all these missiles – a lot more than anyone thought.”
Trump later told reporters that he thought Iran would attack the United States, based on information he received from defense secretary Pete Hegseth, secretary of state Marco Rubio and special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Kushner is Trump’s son-in-law.
“If we don’t do this while we’re doing it, I think they’re thinking of attacking us,” Trump said.
The Trump administration has struggled to define the justification for the war, offering various and sometimes contradictory explanations to the American public and Congress, ranging from nuclear threat to regime change.
Trump refused to directly answer whether the country’s newly appointed religious leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, had “a target behind him.” He once again expressed his disappointment with the election of the Ayatollah’s son, Khamenei. Ali KhameneiThe person who was killed in the attacks carried out by the USA and Israel on Tehran last week.
Trump has previously called the younger Khamenei a “lightweight” and recently said the election was a mistake.
“I don’t know if it’s going to continue like this,” he told NBC News.
At the beginning of the war, Trump had called on Iranians to “seize this moment, be brave, be courageous, be heroes and take back your country.” Israel announced that it would target Iran’s new religious leader.
In his speech on Monday, the president briefly described his meeting with family members of soldiers killed during the war with Iran while attending an honorable transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base this weekend.
“They all told me one thing,” Trump told the families. “‘Make sure you win, sir. Make sure you win.'”
