Trump Threatens To Bring About 'the Official End of Iran'
President Donald Trump on Monday replied to a missile attack not far from the U.S. embassy in Iraq with a threat to Iran.
“If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!” Trump tweeted.
If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 19, 2019
On Sunday, one missile landed in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone within a mile of the U.S. embassy, CBS reported. No one was injured in the attack.
Iraqi Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasoul said officials believe the rocket was fired from east Baghdad, which is home to Iran-backed Shiite militias.
Iran sent equally tough words flying back in response to Trump’s tweet.
“The enemies of Islamic Iran are incapable in operation fields and have resorted to media warfare because of their fear of Iran’s military power,” Iranian Gen. Ali Hajilou said, according to a UPI report.
“We have not invaded any country and will not do so but we will give a crushing response to [any] aggression by enemies,” Hajilou said, adding that Iran’s defenses are “very advanced.”
Earlier this month, the U.S. sent the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group into the region. On Sunday, the carrier group and Marine Corps units conducted exercises in the Arabian Sea, Fox News reported.
Last week, the U.S. sent the guided-missile destroyers USS McFaul and USS Gonzalez into the Persian Gulf, UPI reported.
Amid the tensions, Trump’s hard line against Iran received support from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina .
“Just received a briefing from National Security Advisor Bolton about escalating tensions with Iran. It is clear that over the last several weeks Iran has attacked pipelines and ships of other nations and created threat streams against American interests in Iraq,” Graham tweeted.
The fault lies with the Iranians, not the United States or any other nation.
If the Iranian threats against American personnel and interests are activated we must deliver an overwhelming military response.
Stand firm Mr. President.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) May 20, 2019
Trump made his bottom line clear in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.
“I will not let Iran have nuclear weapons,” he said, later adding, “I just don’t want them to have nuclear weapons, and they can’t be threatening us.”
Trump, who campaigned against the Iranian nuclear agreement signed by former President Barack Obama in 2015, said that ending the agreement was necessary, even if it led to increased tensions.
“Well look, Iran’s been a problem for so many years. If you go back, just take a look at all of the conflict that they’ve caused, and the deal that President Obama made was a horror show, the Iran Nuclear Deal. Because basically it says that in five years from now they’re going to have an open path to make nuclear weapons,” Trump said.
“We don’t need another country with that, and frankly especially them. We don’t need it.”
Trump said Iran is reacting to internal crises caused by his decision to end the deal.
“I ended the Iran Nuclear Deal, and actually, I must tell you — I had no idea it was going to be as strong as it was. It totally — the country is devastated from the standpoint of the economy,” he said.
Iran has given the U.S. and its allies a July 7 deadline for reaching a new agreement with it, or it has said it will return to enriching uranium at higher levels, which could lead Iran closer to producing a nuclear weapon.
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