United States President, Donald Trump, has stated that Iran would never have a nuclear weapon under his watch while seeming to suggest his administration won’t respond militarily to Iran following the Islamic Republic’s missile attacks on US airbases, on Tuesday night.
That night, Tehran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles at the Ayn al Asad airbase and Erbil base in Iraq housing American troops in a revenge attack for the US drone strike that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani on Friday.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned the US and its regional allies against retaliation via a statement carried by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency on Wednesday morning but Trump on Wednesday during a press conference addressing Americans said no American lives were lost during the Iranian attack and suggested he will be ready to negotiate with Iran if they wanted peace rather than war.
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Trump in the White House press conference said he will impose more economic sanctions on Iran, asked Europe to get behind his maximum pressure campaign on Iran, asked NATO to get more involved with Middle East peace and said that the US military had new hypersonic weapons to use if needed.
Iran will never have a nuclear weapon as long as I’m president’ ‘Good morning ladies and gentlemen. No Americans were harmed in last night’s attack by the Iranian regime,” he said.
“Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned,” he added.
”We will be imposing additional financial and economic sanctions on Iran, which would remain until Iran changes its behaviour.
“Iran must abandon its nuclear ambitions and end its support for terrorism.
“We must all work together toward making a deal with Iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place,” Trump said.
Trump defended his administration’s decision last week to kill Soleimani, saying the general’s “hands were drenched in both American and Iranian blood.
“He should have been terminated long ago.” he said
Soleimani, who was killed Friday, led the Quds special forces unit of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards and was a key figure of Iranian and the Middle East politics. His death increased already-high tensions between Iran and the United States after the US pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal.