Iran is back in US President Donald Trump’s focus after he appears to have rolled back his threats over Greenland.
By Alex Berry with AFP, Reuters
US President Donald Trump again issued threats against Iran on Wednesday, calling on the Middle Eastern country to agree on its nuclear program.
Trump’s comments came in a post on his social media platform, as military officials said the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and accompanying vessels had arrived in the Middle East.
What did Trump say to Iran?
“Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal — NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS — one that is good for all parties. Time is running out,” Trump said, adding that “a massive armada is heading to Iran.”
“As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL! They didn’t, and there was ‘Operation Midnight Hammer,’ a major destruction of Iran. The next attack will be far worse!”
Operation Midnight Hammer is a reference to the US strikes carried out during the 12-day war between Iran and Israel last year.
Iran has rejected efforts to force it to the negotiating table under threats of military action.
“Conducting diplomacy through military threat cannot be effective or useful,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in televised comments on Wednesday. “If they want negotiations to take shape, they must certainly set aside threats, excessive demands, and raising illogical issues.”
Trump threatens Iran for the second time this year
Wednesday’s comments mark the second time this year that the US president has threatened to attack Iran.
His first threats revolved around the major protests that have shaken the theocratic regime in Tehran. Trump said he would strike Iran if protesters were killed, but then rolled back the threat, saying he had been assured that planned executions of protesters had been cancelled.
Iran later denied Trump’s claim. The number of protesters being killed has also continued to rise. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has recorded over 6,000 deaths, the vast majority of which were protesters.
The new threats appear to revolve around Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran has denied that it is aiming to produce nuclear weapons, but has enriched uranium to levels higher than what is needed for mere civilian purposes.
Last year’s strikes targeted nuclear facilities, but were widely seen as not having done much to push back the progress of the program.