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‘No deal? No mercy’: Trump's threat to hit Iran ‘extremely hard’ and a big 'Stone Age' warning
Donald Trump delivered an address to nation to share an update on 'Operation Epic Fury' launched against Iran on February 28
In a big ultimatum to Iran, US President Donald Trump in his address to nation Wednesday (local time) to give an update on ‘Operation Epic Fury’ said each and every Iranian “electric generating plant” will be hit if no deal is made.
Trump's statement comes amid his efforts to present to the Americans and the world that negotiations are on to stop the fighting, a claim not fully agreed to by the Iranian side. Track all updates from the speech here
The drone and missile exchange with Iran was triggered on February 28 after the surprise US-Israeli strikes that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. While the US named the action Operation Epic Fury, Israel named it 'Operation Roaring Lion'.
Trump's Stone Age warning and ultimatum to Iran
In the speech with not much clarity on the status of objectives, Trump said Iran will be hit “extremely hard" over the next two to three weeks and will be brought to the "Stone Ages”.
“Thanks to the progress we've made, I can say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America's military objections shortly. Very shortly. We're going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We're going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong," Trump said.
In the meantime, discussions are ongoing, regime change was not our goal, he said. "We never said regime change, but regime change has occurred because of all of their original leader's death,” Trump said in the speech, adding an ultimatum next.
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“Yet, if during this period of time, no deal is made… if there is no deal, we are going to hit each, and every one of their electric generating plants very hard, and probably simultaneously,” Trump said.
“We have not hit their oil, even though that's the easiest target of all, because it would not give them even a small chance of survival or rebuilding. But we could hit it, and it would be gone, and there's not a thing they could do about it. They have no anti aircraft equipment,” he said.
We are unstoppable as a military force, he added.
Iran's Navy gone, says Trump
Trump started the address to the nation by describing the actions by the armed forces as swift, decisive, overwhelming victories on the battlefield in the past four weeks under Operation Epic Fury.
Victories like few people have ever seen before, he described the outcome of the operation as.
“Tonight, Iran's Navy is gone. Their Air Force is in ruins. Their leaders, most of them, the terrorist regime they led, are now dead. They're command and control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps being decimated as we speak,” Trump said, adding that Iranians' ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed, and their weapons, factories, and rocket launches “are being blown to pieces”.
He said never in the history of warfare has an “enemy suffered such clear and devastating large scale losses."
Defying Trump's ultimatum of sorts, Iran launched missiles towards Israel moments after he concluded the address to the nation.
Israel's military said air defences were responding to an Iranian missile attack on Thursday.
The military said in a statement it had "identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel" for the third time in just over three hours, adding that "defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat".
Air raid sirens sounded across northern Israel, according to the military's Home Front Command, and there were no immediate reports of any casualties or damage, AFP news agency reported.
