President Donald Trump on Monday doubled down on his tough talk against Iran, calling them the ‘number one provocateur of terror in this country’ as the war of words between the two nations.
‘They’ve been very hostile. Truly been the number one provocateur of terror in this country and representing their country, but certainly our country has been very much involved because we’re trying to help a lot of people out and I don’t mind that at all,’ he told reporters on the South Lawn as he left for a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Trump again warned the Iran that any aggression on their part would be ‘met with great force’ even as he conceded there was no indication anything has happened.
‘We have no indication that anything has happen the or will happen but if it does, it will be met obviously with great force. We’ll have no choice,’ he said.
President Trump doubled down on his tough talk against Iran, calling them the ‘number one provocateur of terror in this country’
He also said the two nations were not in negotiations.
‘If they call we would certainly negotiate but that’s going to be up to them. I’d only want them to call if they’re ready. If they’re not ready, they don’t have to bother,’ Trump noted.
The administration has been drawing a link between al Qaeda and Iran to argue the Islamic nation is a terrorist threat to the United States.
It’s an argument that could allow the president to fight Iran without congressional approval under a 2001 use-of-forces resolution, which gives Trump the authority to use force in order ‘to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States,’ NBC News reported.
Iran did not attack the United States on the September 11th attacks but the administration has accused the country of assisting al Qaeda and of being linked to a terrorist threat against the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.
Earlier Monday, Trump slammed reports he is talking to Iran and boasted how the country’s economy is collapsing as he steps his war of words with the Islamic nation.
‘The Fake News put out a typically false statement, without any knowledge that the United States was trying to set up a negotiation with Iran. This is a false report,’ the president wrote on Twitter.
‘Iran will call us if and when they are ever ready. In the meantime, their economy continues to collapse – very sad for the Iranian people!,’ he added.
President Donald Trump slammed reports he is talking to Iran and boasted how the country’s economy is collapsing
Tensions between the two countries have soared as Washington has sent warships and bombers to the Persian Gulf while Tehran is reported to have resumed higher uranium enrichment.
The escalation come a year after President Trump withdrew from Iran’s 2015 nuclear accord.
Additionally, the leaders of the two nations have been engaged in a twitter sniping battle.
Over the weekend, Trump issued a threat to the Islamic nation, writing on Twitter: ‘If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!’
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif hit back, claiming Trump had been ‘goaded’ into ‘genocidal taunts.’ Zarif name checked both Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan as two historical leaders that the region outlasted.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called Trump’s Twitter outbursts ‘genocidal’
He wrote: ‘@realdonaldTrump hopes to achieve what Alexander, Genghis & other aggressors failed to do. Iranians have stood tall for millennia while aggressors all gone. #EconomicTerrorism & genocidal taunts won’t ‘end Iran’. #NeverThreatenAnIranian. Try respect-it works!’
Speaking in an interview with Fox News that aired Sunday Trump said he was reluctant to start a war but said he ‘couldn’t let Iran have nuclear weapons’.
‘I will not let Iran have nuclear weapons,’ he noted.
‘I don’t want to fight. But you do have situations like Iran, you can’t let them have nuclear weapons – you just can’t let that happen,’ he said.
‘With all of everything that’s going on, and I’m not one that believes – you know, I’m not somebody that wants to go into war, because war hurts economies, war kills people most importantly – by far most importantly,’ he said.
Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday that he wouldn’t let Iran have nuclear weapons
He also noted: ‘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.’
Earlier this month, Trump said he’d like to see Iran call him, which some saw as an indication the U.S. was open to negotiations with Tehran.
‘What I’d like to see with Iran, I’d like to see them call me,’ Trump said at the time.
‘What they should be doing is calling me up, sitting down,’ the president noted. ‘We can make a deal, a fair deal.’
Also, last week, the president met with Swiss President Ueli Maurer, whose country has facilitated communication between the Washington D.C. and Tehran since they broke diplomatic ties in 1979.