President Trump threatened Iran on Wednesday with an attack “far worse” than the strikes he ordered against the country’s nuclear sites in June if Tehran doesn’t agree to a deal to curb its nuclear program.
“A massive Armada is heading to Iran. It is moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose. It is a larger fleet, headed by the great Aircraft Carrier Abraham Lincoln, than that sent to Venezuela. Like with Venezuela, it is, ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary,” Mr. Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. “Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal — NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS — one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence!”
Mr. Trump said that if Iran did not come to an agreement with the United States, the U.S. could carry out an attack worse than its previous one in June, when it hit multiple nuclear sites with bunker busting bombs.
“As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL! They didn’t, and there was ‘Operation Midnight Hammer,’ a major destruction of Iran. The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Mr. Trump said Wednesday.
As of Tuesday, a U.S. official confirmed to CBS News that the USS Abraham Lincoln Aircraft Carrier Strike Group, which includes the carrier and three destroyers, had crossed into the U.S. military’s Central Command area of responsibility, which includes the Middle East and the waters around Iran, though it had not necessarily reached its intended final deployment location.
While Mr. Trump has issued threats to Iran for weeks, and as the Lincoln strike group nears the region, his rhetoric had largely been about Iran’s brutal quashing of massive street protests. The Truth Social post on Wednesday was the first time he had linked the major U.S. Navy deployment in the Persian Gulf region to the stalled nuclear negotiations.
Last week, he said the “armada” of U.S. warships was heading for the Middle East as he continued to watch the Iranian regime’s response to the massive protests that began in late December.
“We have a lot of ships going that direction just in case,” he told reporters on Thursday. He called it a “good sign” that Iranian authorities had decided not to hang protesters, adding: “We have an armada heading that direction and maybe we won’t have to use it.”
Iran’s army commander reiterated recent statements on Wednesday from the country’s leaders, saying Iran was ready for any attack by its enemies.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran Army is always ready to confront any threat, and if anything happens, the enemy will certainly suffer severe damage,” Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, Chief of Staff and Deputy Coordinator of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, said Wednesday, according to Iranian state media. “We stand against any threat on land, in the air, and at sea, and the army is always ready to confront any threat.”