U.S. president says Washington remains ready to launch a large-scale attack if Iran fails to meet U.S. demands.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States remains prepared to launch a large-scale military operation against Iran if Tehran fails to comply with Washington’s demands.
Speaking in an interview with French television channel LCI, Trump said, “The temporary pause in the strikes does not mean we have backed down.”
He added, “We remain ready to launch a large-scale attack on Iran if it does not do what we want.”
His remarks came as the United States halted airstrikes on Iran on Saturday for the first night in two weeks. Washington has not provided an official explanation for the sudden suspension of a 13-night campaign of escalating strikes that began after the collapse of a temporary agreement and followed Iranian attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
There were also no reports on Saturday of Iranian attacks against countries in the region, unlike the daily attacks reported in recent days.
According to Axios, citing two unnamed sources familiar with the matter, Trump instructed the U.S. military on Friday not to carry out any new strikes against Iran.
The temporary truce between Washington and Tehran effectively collapsed two weeks ago after U.S. forces launched strikes on targets in southern Iran in response to Iranian actions that disrupted maritime navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
In recent days, Trump has threatened to expand the list of potential targets to include power stations and bridges in Iran, deploy ground forces to seize Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export hub, and strike a deeply buried site linked to Iran’s nuclear program known as Mount Pickaxe. However, Trump said on Friday that he had not yet made a final decision on launching any major new military operation.
Source: AFP
