US President Donald Trump has once again reiterated that Iran has been “militarily defeated”, but noted that it would take only two weeks for the American forces to hit “every single target” in the Islamic Republic. His remarks came as the US and Iran negotiate via Pakistan to end the conflict between them that started on February 28.
In an interview with independent journalist Sharyl Attkisson, which was recorded last week but was aired on Sunday, the 79-year-old American leader said maybe the Iranian leadership does not know that it has been militarily defeated. He said he knows about Iran’s defeat but that does not mean that the Middle East nation is done.
The US military could “go in for two more weeks and do every single target. We have certain targets that we wanted, and we’ve done probably 70 per cent of them, but we have other targets that we could conceivably hit,” Trump said. “But even if we didn’t do that, you know, that would just be final touches.”
Trump also hit out at his North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) partners and called the bloc a “paper tiger”, as the alliance failed to help the US in his actions against Iran. The differences between the US and NATO have widened a lot since the start of the war, as many members of the bloc have openly criticised Washington over the Iran war.
NATO “has proven to be a paper tiger. They werenโt there to help,” the US president said in the interview.
Trump’s statements come as the entire world awaits a ceasefire in the Middle East. Talks have been going on between the two sides via Pakistan, but the deadlock is yet to end. On Sunday, Iran sent its response to the latest US ceasefire proposal through Pakistan.
As per the Iranian media, Tehran wants to end all hostilities, including in Lebanon, once and for all through the negotiations. The White House has not responded to the Iranian reply as of now.
The new US proposal focuses on ending the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and pause Iran’s nuclear programme. Iran has maintained that its nuclear programme is only for civilian use, but the US, along with Israel, want a complete end to it.ย ย
Earlier this month, Trump even claimed that Iran, if allowed to have nuclear weapons, would target Israel, other Middle East nations and also Europe, as he defended his action against the Islamic Republic. “We stopped them with the B2 bombers. If we didn’t do that, they would’ve had a nuclear weapon,” he had said at an event in Florida.
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