On Monday, President Trump replied to a missile attack that took place rather close to the U.S. embassy in Iraq with a blatant threat to Iran. In a tweet, Trump wrote: “If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!”
According to CBS, on Sunday, a missile landed in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad within a mile of the U.S. embassy. Luckily, no one sustained injuries during the attack.
According to Iraqi Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasoul, officials believe that the rocket was fired from east Baghdad, which is the home to the Iran-backed Shiite militia. After receiving news of Trump’s tweet, Iran had a few words to share of their own. According to a UPI report, Iranian Gen. Ali Hajilou said: “The enemies of Islamic Iran are incapable in operation fields and have resorted to media warfare because of their fear of Iran’s military power.”
Hajilou continued by saying: “We have not invaded any country and will not do so but we will give a crushing response to [any] aggression by enemies.” He also said that Iran’s defenses are “very advanced.”
Earlier in May, the United States sent the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group to the area. According to Fox News, on Sunday, the carrier group and units from the Marine Corps conducted exercises in the Arabian Sea. According to UPI, the United States sent the guided-missile destroyers USS McFaul and USS Gonzalez into the Persian Gulf last week.
Despite the tensions, Sen. Lindsey Graham showed Trump his support for the hard line he is drawing against Iran. In a tweet, Graham wrote: “Just received a briefing from National Security Advisor Bolton about escalating tensions with Iran. It is clear that over the last several weeks Iran has attacked pipelines and ships of other nations and created threat streams against American interests in Iraq.”
During an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Trump made his bottom line exceptionally clear. “I will not let Iran have nuclear weapons,” he said. Trump later added: “I just don’t want them to have nuclear weapons, and they can’t be threatening us.”
Trump is responsible for campaigning against the Obama-signed Iranian nuclear agreement, saying that it was necessary to end the agreement, even if it created tension. “Well look, Iran’s been a problem for so many years. If you go back, just take a look at all of the conflict that they’ve caused, and the deal that President Obama made was a horror show, the Iran Nuclear Deal. Because basically it says that in five years from now they’re going to have an open path to make nuclear weapons,” Trump said.
Trump continued by saying: “We don’t need another country with that, and frankly especially them. We don’t need it.” According to Trump, Iran is reacting to an internal crisis caused by the end of the nuclear deal. “I ended the Iran Nuclear Deal, and actually, I must tell you — I had no idea it was going to be as strong as it was. It totally — the country is devastated from the standpoint of the economy,” he said.
The United States and its allies have been given a July 7 deadline for reaching a new agreement. Iran has said that if an agreement isn’t reached they will return to enriching uranium at higher levels, which could bring Iran closer to creating a nuclear weapon.
