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Watch: Trump's response to Iran threatening to strike top US tech Google, Apple
Iran has named Apple, Google in list of US companies it has threatened to target if more Iranian leaders are killed in “targeted assassinations”.
Mocking the Iran threat to US companies such as Apple, Microsoft and Google, President Donald Trump on Tuesday wondered what the Iranians have threatened the tech giants with — “BB guns?”
Iran's elite military unit, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said on Tuesday that they will target American companies, and not just those working on military bases, in West Asia/Gulf region as of April 1, if more Iranian leaders were killed in "targeted assassinations". Track latest in Iran war here
The 18 companies listed in the IRGC's threat included Microsoft, Google, Apple, Intel, IBM, Tesla and Boeing.
Trump's ‘BB guns’ remark
Interacting with reporters in the White House, Trump was asked by a media person, “Iranian government threatened a bunch of US companies in the region today.”
To this, Trump mockingly said, “With what? What did they threaten them with? BB guns or? They don't have much left to threaten.”
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Interrupting the reporter as he repeated the question, Trump added, "You made a statement. What did they threaten them with? I don't know. Tell me. How did they threaten them?”
The exchange continued with the reporter saying that all he knows is that Iran threatened them.
“What does that mean?” Trump said, asking did Iranians say “something nasty”
Asked by the reporter if he was “helping to back stop” Iran, a seemingly annoyed Trump said, “You don't even know what the threat was. What was the threat? I haven't heard it. What was the threat? Did they say they're going to blow them up?”
You know what they're not going to do, Trump asked, adding that "they are not going to hit them with a nuclear weapon.” Trump's statement appearingly stemmed from its offensive launched against Iran on February 28, in collaboration with Israel, to end the alleged nuclear ambitions of the country.
The joint strikes on February 28 triggered an Iranian retaliation that still continues to disrupt the entire Gulf region and areas beyond with the missile-drone salvo.
Apple, Microsoft, Google in Iran's hitlist
Iran's IRGC said in a statement on Tuesday that the American companies "should expect the destruction of their respective units in exchange for each terror act in Iran, starting from 8 pm Tehran time on Wednesday, April 1," Tehran's 8 pm means 4:30 pm in GMT/UTC, and 10:30 pm in India (IST).
"We advise the employees of these institutions to immediately leave their workplaces to preserve their lives," the statement added.
American companies on the IRGC hit list included Dell Technologies, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard or HP, Cisco, Intel, Oracle, Apple, Meta Platforms (which owns Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram), International Business Machines or IBM, JPMorgan Chase, Tesla, General Electric, and Boeing.
Microsoft and Apple, for instance, have corporate offices and significant retail presence in the United Arab Emirates, primarily centered in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
