Donald Trump returned with new statements about Iran, arguing that the country’s military capabilities have been nearly neutralized.
Speaking to reporters, the U.S. president repeated that “their navy has been destroyed, their air force has been destroyed, almost everything has been lost.”
He noted that the key question now is whether the United States “will move forward and finish it” or whether Iran will choose to sign an agreement. “We’ll see what happens,” he said.
“We hit them very hard. We may need to hit them even harder, but maybe not,” he stressed while speaking at the graduation ceremony of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
“We will not let Iran acquire nuclear weapons. That’s it. It’s very simple. They want to make a deal so badly, we’ll see what happens.”
Earlier, Trump had said he is not in a hurry to reach a peace agreement with Tehran, while emphasizing the importance of developments in the Strait of Hormuz.
“We should open the Strait of Hormuz, and that would happen immediately. That’s why we will give this process a chance,” he said.
The U.S. president also added that it is better “to see a few dead rather than many,” but added: “We can do it both ways.”
During his remarks, he also referred to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that he “will do whatever I want.”
“He is a wartime prime minister and I just don’t think they will treat him well,” Trump added.
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