President of the United States (US), Donald Trump, held an important press conference on Iran today, at 10 PM Pakistan time, and 1:00 PM EDT, saying, “The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night.”
“We’re here today to celebrate the success of one of the largest, most complex, most harrowing combat searches,” Trump said during the news conference.
“I guess you would call it a search-and-rescue mission, ever attempted by the military,” he added.
“It’s a hard decision to make, but in the United States military, we leave no American behind. We don’t do it,” said Trump.
Trump on Strait of Hormuz
He has threatened to rain hell on Tehran if it does not make a deal to open the Strait of Hormuz by 8 PM EDT on Tuesday.
Further, he said that the American proposals for an agreement with Iran are very important. And these proposals should be the basis for the negotiations.
“I ordered the US Armed Forces to do whatever was necessary to bring our brave warriors back home. A risky decision, because we could have ended up with 100 dead, as opposed to one or two,” he said.
He said that the US has military power and weapons that no other country has achieved its goals in Iran.
According to President Trump, the American forces successfully rescued their pilot from Iranian soil, which was a very important and sensitive operation.
He further said that American planes went deep into Iran to search for the pilot. ‘He was safely extracted in broad daylight, while no American soldiers were injured during this operation,’ claimed Trump.
President Trump said that the United States has fully demonstrated its military capability.
He said that the United States is maintaining its superiority in the ongoing situation with Iran.
Trump threatens jail for reporter of US rescue mission in Iran
Trump said he will ask the media organization the name of the person who leaked information on the rescue operation in Iran.
He also threatened to jail the person who reported on it. “We’re going to go to the media company that released it, and we’re going to say ‘national security, give it up or go to jail,” he said.
“They put this mission at great risk. They put that man at great risk,” he said.
“When they did that, all of a sudden the entire country of Iran knew that there was a pilot that was somewhere on their land that was fighting for his life,” he added.
‘Iranians are willing to suffer’: Trump
Trump also pushed back against criticism of his plan. He said, “Everything has been thought out by us”.
When he was asked about the impact of the US targeting civilian infrastructure in Iran, Trump said Iranians would be “willing to suffer to have their freedom”.
“We’re the winners”
“We won,” he says. “They are militarily defeated… we have a concept where we’ll charge tolls,” he said.
Trump says that in order to meet his 48 hour deadline that is ending tomorrow, there needs to be a deal with Iran “that’s acceptable to me.” He added, “Part of that deal is going to be we want free traffic of oil”
Final warning to Iran?
Just some time prior, he talked to the press as the Easter celebrations continued at the White House.
During his talks, he claimed that the Tuesday deadline against Iran is the final one.
Adding more, President Trump said that Iran will have no power plants until a deal is struck.
‘I’d take Iran’s oil if I could’, says Trump
“If I had my choice, what would I like to do? Take the oil, because it’s there for the taking. There’s not a thing they can do about it,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the American people would like to see us come home. If it were up to me, I take the oil, I keep the oil, I would make plenty of money, and I’d also take care of the people of Iran much better than they’ve been taken care of,” he added.
Further, talking about the oil that the US is receiving from Venezuela after capturing its former leader, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife in January, he said, “Venezuela has worked out so incredibly.”
“We have 100 million barrels of oil right now in Houston being refined. It’s been great,” Trump added.
