Washington, President Donald Trump has warned Iran that US forces could \u201cbring them back to the Stone Ages\u201d within weeks if no deal is reached, declaring the country\u2019s military \u201cdecimated\u201d after a month of sustained strikes.
In a televised address on Wednesday (Local time), Trump said it had been \u201cjust one month since the United States military began Operation Epic Fury targeting the world\u2019s number one state sponsor of terror, Iran,\u201d claiming rapid battlefield gains.
\u201cTonight, Iran\u2019s Navy is gone. Their Air Force is in ruins. Their leaders\u2026 are now dead,\u201d he said, adding that Iran\u2019s missile and drone capabilities had been \u201cdramatically curtailed\u201d and weapons facilities \u201cblown to pieces.\u201d
He framed the campaign as necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. \u201cI have vowed that I would never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon,\u201d Trump said, calling the regime \u201cthe most violent and thuggish regime on Earth.\u201d
Referring to earlier US strikes, he said, \u201cWe totally obliterated those nuclear sites,\u201d citing \u201cOperation Midnight Hammer,\u201d and claimed Iran had attempted to rebuild its programme elsewhere.
Trump said US objectives were to dismantle Iran\u2019s military capacity and its ability to project power beyond its borders. \u201cThese core strategic objectives are nearing completion,\u201d he said.
He warned of further escalation if negotiations fail.
\u201cOver the next two to three weeks, we\u2019re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages,\u201d he said, adding that the US could target Iran\u2019s electric infrastructure if no agreement is reached.
While stating that regime change was not the stated goal, Trump suggested leadership shifts had already taken place. \u201cRegime change was not our goal\u2026 but regime change has occurred because of all of their original leaders\u2019 deaths,\u201d he said.
The President blamed Iran for recent increases in global oil prices, saying they were caused by \u201cderanged terror attacks against commercial oil tankers.\u201d He urged countries dependent on Middle Eastern oil to secure shipping routes and reduce reliance on the region.
He praised regional allies, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain, saying they had been \u201cgreat\u201d partners in the campaign.
Trump also highlighted US economic resilience, saying the country was the \u201cnumber one producer of oil and gas on the planet\u201d and could absorb disruptions linked to the conflict.
He acknowledged the loss of 13 American service members, saying their families had urged him to \u201cfinish the job.\u201d
Framing the operation as historically swift, Trump said the campaign had already neutralised a major threat in just over a month. \u201cWe are on the cusp of ending Iran\u2019s sinister threat to America and the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington, President Donald Trump has warned Iran that US forces could \u201cbring them back to the Stone Ages\u201d within weeks if no deal is reached, declaring the country\u2019s military \u201cdecimated\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-display","category-international","has_no_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2080"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2081,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2080\/revisions\/2081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}