US President Donald Trump reaffirmed his tough stance on Iran at a campaign-style rally in Clive, Iowa, emphasizing military pressure and openness to talks with Tehran amid continued tensions over crackdown on protesters and regional security, ANI reported.
Trump said: “By the way, there’s another beautiful army sailing over to Iran right now. So we’ll see. I hope they make a deal. I hope they make a deal. They should have made a deal the first time. They’d have a country.”
Trump told Axios, “We have a big military alongside Iran. Bigger than Venezuela,” adding that Tehran officials have repeatedly signaled a willingness to engage. “They want to make a deal. I know that. They’ve called on many occasions. They want to talk,” he said.
The president’s tough stance stems from his first move in office to withdraw the United States from the 2015 nuclear deal and launch a “maximum pressure” campaign to cripple Tehran through sanctions.
The development comes as a US aircraft carrier strike group has arrived in West Asia to lead any potential US military response to the crisis, the AP reported.
Meanwhile, Iran’s currency, the rial, fell to a record low of 1.5 million to the dollar.
The deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, along with accompanying guided-missile destroyers, gives the United States the ability to attack Iran — especially since the Gulf states, despite hosting American forces, have made it clear they do not want to be drawn into any attack.
At the same time, two Iranian-backed militias in the region signaled readiness to launch new attacks, apparently in support of Tehran, after Trump threatened military action over the killing of peaceful protesters or potential mass executions after demonstrations.
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, one of Iran’s staunchest allies, has declined to say how it plans to respond in the event of a possible attack.
“Over the past two months, several parties have asked me a clear and honest question: If Israel and America go to war against Iran, will Hezbollah intervene or not?” According to the AP agency, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Kassem said this in a video speech.
He said the group was preparing for “possible aggression and is determined to defend against it”. But as for how that would work, he said, “the battle will determine those details, and we’ll determine them according to the interests that are present.”
(With input from agencies)
