Trump says he’s ‘not afraid’ of Vietnam-style ground combat in Iran
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he was ‘not afraid’ of deploying US ground troops to Iran and emphasized how far he would go in the Middle East war.
Speaking in the Oval Office alongside Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin, the President answered many questions about the Iran war.
‘Are you afraid that if you knock the boat out in Iran there might be another Vietnam?’ a reporter asked.
“No,” Trump responded, adding, “I’m not afraid of anything.”
The president has previously said he would deploy ground troops ‘if necessary’ but gave few details about what scenario might lead to ground intervention.
During his meeting with the Taoiseach, he also said that the US was considering destroying Iran’s energy infrastructure.
‘We could destroy their electrical capacity in an hour,’ he said, ‘and there’s nothing they can do.’
Although the President has said the war should last only a few weeks, there are concerns among administration officials that the offensive could last much longer.
Donald Trump with Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin on Tuesday. The president said he was ‘afraid’ of nothing, not even sending ground troops into Iran for a Vietnam War-style invasion
The president has previously said he would use troops only ‘if necessary’ but gave no further details
This comes as United States National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent resigned on Tuesday out of frustration with the Iran war.
Three sources familiar with the matter told Axios that the Middle East could come as early as September, a much longer timeline than Trump has publicly discussed so far.
The president also faced news that his top counterterrorism official, Joe Kent, had resigned due to the war.
‘I always thought he was a good guy but I thought he was very poor at security. It is very weak in terms of security. “I didn’t know him very well, but I thought he seemed like a pretty nice guy,” Trump said.
‘But when I read his statement, I realized it was a good thing he was out because he said Iran was not a threat.’
Kent resigned early on Tuesday and published a letter saying he ‘cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran’.
“Iran did not pose an imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to the pressure of Israel and its powerful American lobby,” Kent said in his speech, in which he broke up dramatically with the administration. he said.
There is growing evidence that the United States is considering a ground intervention in Iran.
Last week, the military ordered the deployment of 2,000 U.S. Marines and their equipment, as well as several Navy ships, to the Middle East from the South Pacific near the Philippines.
Smoke and fire rose in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, on Saturday after the wreckage of an Iranian drone crashed into an oil facility, according to officials.
USS Tripoli, now en route to the Middle East, is capable of holding thousands of ground troops and dozens of aircraft to conduct amphibious assaults.
Marines and Sailors aboard USS Tripoli and USS New Orleans, along with supporting Navy ships, are part of the Amphibious Ready Group (ARG), which totals nearly 5,000 service members.
The primary purpose of the ARG is to land marines in coastal environments using aircraft and landing craft. USS Tripoli also has an arsenal of aircraft, including F-35 fighter jets and attack and transport helicopters, to transport troops and project power.
The ARG is estimated to reach the Middle East within ten to 15 days from its initial deployment late last week, meaning the force should arrive near Iran by the end of this month.
Concerns about sending US troops to Iran are floating on Capitol Hill.
Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said after a classified briefing from military officials last week: “We appear to be on track to deploy American troops on the ground in Iran to carry out any of the potential targets there.”
“So the American people deserve to know much more about the cost of war, the danger to our sons and daughters in uniform, and the potential for further escalation and expansion of this war than this administration is telling them,” the Democrat added.
Americans also oppose sending troops, according to Quinnipiac’s latest poll of 1,000 US voters, published on March 9.
The results showed that 74 percent of those surveyed were against sending ground troops to Iran. A majority of 53 percent said they were completely against the war.
