Trump Says Iran’s First- and Second-Tier Leaders Gone, Asks Who US Is Negotiating With | Today’s news
US President Donald Trump claimed that Iran’s first and second tier leaders had been eliminated by US military strikes, questioning who Washington was negotiating with as he predicted the conflict would end “very, very soon”.
Speaking at a campaign rally in Montana late Wednesday, Trump said Iran’s military capabilities had been severely weakened and declared the country was no longer “the tyrant of the Middle East,” according to Fox News. He also predicted that oil prices would plummet after the fighting ended.
“They don’t have a navy, they don’t have an air force, their military is decimated, their leaders are gone,” Trump said, according to the news outlet, claiming Iran had lost leaders at multiple levels of its hierarchy.
“I probably should have left the leader because I don’t know who we’re negotiating with,” he added.
Trump mocks Iran’s alleged negotiating position
Trump claimed that Iran’s first and second tier leaders are gone, along with half of its third leadership. He then mocked what he portrayed as Tehran’s negotiating position.
“And now their main thing they’re asking in negotiations is, ‘Will you please let us live?'” Trump said.
“That’s all they do. They don’t want us to come after them,” he added.
During the rally, Trump did not provide independent evidence to back up his claims about the extent of the damage to Iran’s leadership or military capabilities.
“Iran is no longer the tyrant of the Middle East”
Trump reiterated that the US military action has significantly weakened Iran, saying the country is no longer as strong as it was before the strikes.
“They were strong, now they’re not so strong,” he said.
The president also argued that previous US administrations should have confronted Iran much sooner, calling the campaign a long overdue effort to counter Tehran’s regional influence.
“Other presidents should have done this a long time ago. It’s been going on for 51 years,” Trump said.
Trump says Iran war will end ‘very, very soon’
Trump predicted the conflict would end soon, warning it would end “one way or another”.
“But it will end and it will end very, very soon,” he said.
He also claimed that Iran had no fighter jets at its disposal and claimed that its planes were destroyed during the military campaign.
“How many jet fighters are there today? Zero,” Trump said. “They’re all scattered in little bits across the runways and everything’s gone.”
“Oil will drop like a stone”
Trump has defended the military campaign despite the conflict’s potential impact on energy prices, saying the priority remains preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
“It’s all about not allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” he said.
The president predicted that oil prices would plummet once hostilities ended, and he presented any temporary increase in energy costs as a price worth paying to achieve that goal.
“When that happens, oil will drop like a rock,” Trump said.
He also told the crowd that prices have already come down. “Your prices have come down a lot,” he said.
Trump concluded by saying he was “trying to be nice” but reiterated that the conflict would end “very quickly one way or another,” linking his conclusion to his prediction of lower oil prices.
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