Donald Trump says US warships ready to strike
Washington: A “massive armada” of US warships now in the Middle East is ready to strike Iran, President Donald Trump said in his most direct threat yet to the Islamic Republic to negotiate or face American military intervention.
A strike group led by the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln entered the Middle East earlier this week, having been diverted to the region from the Indo-Pacific this month. It was reported on Tuesday that it had been tracked to the coast of Oman, 1,000 kilometers from Iran.
Trump said the flotilla was larger than the one sent to Venezuela late last year before U.S. forces captured the country’s then-leader Nicolás Maduro.
“He moves quickly with great strength, enthusiasm and purpose. As in Venezuela, he is ready, willing and able to carry out his mission quickly, with speed and violence if necessary,” Trump said in a statement to Truth Social.
“We hope Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS – a deal that is good for all parties. Time is running out, this is really important!”
Trump reiterated that Tehran ignored his warnings last year, leading US forces to bomb several Iranian nuclear facilities; This attack is believed to have severely disrupted the regime’s nuclear capabilities, although not permanently.
Ali Shamkhani, an advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in
“The response will be immediate, comprehensive and unprecedented, targeting the attacker – the heart of society.” [Israeli’s largest city] “According to the platform’s automatic translation, Tel Aviv and everyone who supports the attacker,” he said.
The Associated Press reported that Tehran reached out to other Middle Eastern countries on Thursday following Trump’s renewed threat. Two countries, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have signaled that they will not allow their airspace to be used for any attack.
The Trump administration has maintained that lines of communication with the regime are open to a “deal.” Trump wavered on the idea of a military strike this month at the height of anti-regime protests; He encouraged demonstrators to pursue the idea and promised that aid would be “on the way”, but backtracked after being told planned executions of protesters had been halted.
The US president also threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on any country still doing business with Iran, but these were never implemented.
Trump’s push back against those attacks was driven at least in part by his talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who urged him to delay, and by pressure from U.S. partners in the region, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Egypt.
While the Islamic theocracy has brutally suppressed many protests in Tehran and other cities, the death toll has continued to rise, according to activist groups and sources relied on by Western news outlets during Iran’s government-imposed internet blackout.
Human Rights Activists in Iran, a US-based non-governmental organization, says at least 6,221 people have been killed and more than 42,000 arrested in 31 days of national protests. Other estimates are much higher.
Appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday (Washington time), US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the death toll was “certainly in the thousands.”
Rubio predicted that protests would reignite in the future, saying Iran’s government is likely weaker than ever and its economy is collapsing.
via Reuters
Get notes directly from our foreign correspondents on events making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What’s on in the World Newsletter.
Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political correspondent in Canberra.Connect with: X or email.
