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Trump issues chilling warning to Iran over hanging protesters; 'massive fleet heading in that direction'
President Donald Trump issued a stern warning to Iran while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on his way back from Davos, Switzerland.
President Donald Trump issued a chilling warning to Iran while headed back from the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland. Trump was aboard Air Force One when he spoke to the reporter pool about US plans for Iran.
Trump's statement comes some time after there was speculation that the US would strike Iran. Under the Trump administration armed forces have already hit the nation, and Trump has claimed to have destroyed many of Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities. This time, there were violent protests against Supreme Leader Khamenei's regime in Iran, and many were killed there. Trump has specifically addressed Iran's plans to hang protesters and has warned that the US will ‘hit’ them hard if they go through with it.
Also Read | How Trump Went From ‘Locked and Loaded’ to Hitting Pause on Striking Iran
While tensions were high, Trump later turned it down a notch, when he announced that he had it on ‘good authority’ that Iran would not be going through with the hangings. However, his latest statement has caused a buzz again as he's indicated that troops are indeed moving towards Iran.
What Trump said about Iran
Trump said, ‘we have a lot of ships going in that direction.’ He added there was a ‘big flotilla’ and a ‘big force’ going towards Iran. “We'll see what happens,” the president told reports on his way back to Joint Base Andrews near Washington DC.
“I'd rather not see anything happen, but we are watching them very closely,” Trump warned. He spoke about the large number of hangings in Iran, and commented that this was an ‘ancient culture’ but was quick to praise Iranians as ‘very smart people’.
Reiterating the threat of US striking Iran, in the event of hangings, Trump said that he had made it clear that if the nation went through with this they would be ‘hit’ by the US. The POTUS added that it would make the strikes on the nuclear facilities look like ‘peanuts’.
However, he claimed that Iran had ‘canceled’ the hangings an hour before they were to take place. Nonetheless, the US has a ‘massive armada’ heading in that direction. “Maybe we won't have to use it, we'll see,” Trump added.
Under Trump, US armed forces have already made the unprecedented move of entering Venezuela to capture president Nicolas Maduro and his wife and fly them back to be indicted. This has sparked fears of further military action in other places, including Iran and Greenland, which Trump now wants to keep it from Russia and China. However, the president assured in Davos that he'd kept military force off the table when it came to the territory that belongs to NATO ally Denmark.
