Trump Continues Ambiguous Rhetoric About Hitting Iran 'Even Harder' But Makes Public 'Only Question' Remaining
Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the United States may have to attack Iran even harder but will wait to see if a peace deal is reached, the US president thus resuming the “and/or” rhetoric he has been using since he announced a ceasefire six weeks ago, writes Reuters.
“We'll see what happens,” Trump said during a speech at a graduation ceremony at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
“We hit them very hard. We may have to hit them even harder — or we may not,” the White House leader added.
“We're not going to let Iran have a nuclear weapon. It's very simple,” Trump told the cadets.
The US president also said that Iran's military power is largely gone and that the only question is whether the US will come back to “finish the job” or whether Iran will sign a deal.
“Everything is gone. Their Navy is gone. Their Air Force is gone. Basically everything. The only question is: are we going to get the job done? Are they going to sign a document? Let's see what happens,” Trump said in his speech.
Earlier on Wednesday, the US leader claimed that negotiations with Iran were in the final stages, while warning that further attacks would follow if Iran did not accept a deal on its nuclear program.
On Tuesday, he had similar rhetoric. “We were an hour away from making a decision to act today,” Trump told reporters at the White House, referring to the planned attack on Iran that he said he had delayed. The Republican president also claimed that Iranian leaders were begging for a deal, but that another US attack would take place in the coming days if no deal was reached.
“Well, I mean two or three days, maybe Friday, Saturday, Sunday, something, maybe early next week, a limited amount of time, because we can't let them have a new nuclear weapon,” he added in Tuesday's press briefing.
