Trump threatens Iran with an attack “far worse” than the June attack if it does not negotiate a nuclear deal

President Trump threatened Iran on Wednesday with an attack “much worse” than the strikes he ordered against the country’s nuclear facilities in June if Tehran does not accept a deal to curb its nuclear program.

“The big Armada is heading towards Iran. It is moving fast, with great energy, enthusiasm, and purpose. It is a bigger fleet, led by the Aircraft Carrier Abraham Lincoln, than the one that was sent to Venezuela. Like in Venezuela, it is ready, determined, and able to quickly accomplish its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary,” said Mr. Trump on his public platform. “I hope Iran will soon ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS – that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it really is of the essence!”

Mr. Trump said that if Iran does not reach an agreement with the United States, the US may launch an attack worse than its previous attack in June, when hit many nuclear sites with bunker bombs.

“As I told Iran before, MAKE A DEAL! They didn’t, and there was ‘Operation Midnight Hammer,’ a massive destruction of Iran. The next attack will be worse! Don’t do that again. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Mr. Trump said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, a US official confirmed to CBS News that the USS Abraham Lincoln Aircraft Carrier Strike Group, which includes a carrier and three destroyers. he crossed over from the US Central Command’s military area of ​​responsibilityincluding the Middle East and the waters surrounding Iran, although it had not yet reached its final destination.

Although Mr. Trump has issued threats against Iran for weeks, and as Lincoln’s strike force approached the region, his speech was about Iran’s brutal suppression of massive street protests. The Truth Social post on Wednesday was the first to link the US Navy’s major deployment to the Persian Gulf region to the stalled nuclear talks.

Iran’s official at the United Nations in New York said on Wednesday, after Mr. Trump, the country “stands ready for negotiations based on mutual respect and interests – BUT IF PUSHED, IT WILL DEFEND AND RESPOND LIKE NEVER BEFORE!”

“The last time the US was involved in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, it wasted more than $7 trillion and cost more than 7,000 American lives,” the Iranian campaign said.

Last week, he said an “armada” of US warships was headed for the Middle East as he continued to watch the Iranian regime respond to mass protests that began in late December.

“We have a lot of ships going there if that happens,” he told reporters on Thursday. He called it a “good sign” that the Iranian authorities had decided not to hang the protesters, adding: “We have an armada headed there and we probably won’t have to use it.”

Iran’s military commander reiterated the latest statements on Wednesday by the country’s leaders, saying that Iran is ready for any attack by its enemies.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran Army is always ready to face any threat, and if something happens, the enemy will be seriously injured,” said Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, Chief of Staff and Deputy Coordinator of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, on Wednesday, according to Iranian state media. “We are against any threat on land, air, and sea, and the military is always ready to face any threat.”

Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchion the other hand, he said on Wednesday that he was “continuing to communicate” with his counterparts in other countries in the region, including US ally Qatar, and that they agreed that any new military action against Tehran would destabilize the Middle East.

“Last night, I spoke with the Foreign Minister of Qatar,” Araghichi was quoted as saying by Iranian media. “The perception across the region is that any military threat, given the presence of the US here, would lead to instability in the entire region.”

Araghchi was quoted as telling reporters on the sidelines of a weekly cabinet meeting in Tehran that he had not been in contact with US special envoy Steve Witkoff in recent days, and that Iran did not want new talks with Washington, although he added that the two sides were still in contact with negotiators.

“Our position is that pursuing diplomacy through military threats will not work,” he said. “If they want to negotiate, they must put aside threats, excessive demands and the raising of unreasonable issues. Negotiations have their goals and must be conducted in an equal manner and based on mutual respect.”

Iran has been bound by an international nuclear deal since 2015, which required it to outsource its enrichment activities and limit the rate at which it can enrich uranium, until 2018, when Mr. Trump pulled the US out of the deal in his prime.

He had been criticizing this agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was negotiated with the administration of President Obama and signed by Iran, the US, China, France, Russia, the UK, Germany and the European Union, as it is very lax in Tehran.

Despite European efforts to keep the deal in place, the combined US withdrawal has made Iran less likely to adhere to the deal’s terms, as well as its nuclear program. he has gone up during the last half of the decade.