WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Wednesday he does not want a war with Iran but warned that if fighting does break out, it “wouldn’t last very long,” even as Iran’s president tried to tamp down soaring tensions.Trump also hinted that any conflict would be waged with air strikes, saying there would no US boots on the ground.His remarks came after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani tried to rein in the crisis between the two arch foes, saying that Iran “never seeks war” with the United States.Washington has ratcheted up crippling economic sanctions on Tehran after the Islamic Republic’s forces shot down an unmanned US drone in the Gulf region last week, following a series of attacks on oil tankers that Washington blamed on Iran.In an interview on Fox Business News, Trump was asked if America is going to go to war with Iran.“Well, I hope we don’t but we’re in a very strong position if something should happen. We’re in a very strong position. It wouldn’t last very long, I can tell you that. And I’m not talking boots on the ground,” Trump said, a day after he warned that any further military action by Iran would result in an “overwhelming” US response and could result in “obliteration.”In the current crisis with Iran, Trump’s tone has vacillated between tough or conciliatory — talking up US military might and saying all options are on the table, or offering Tehran talks on renegotiating the 2015 multi-party nuclear deal that Trump withdrew from last year.That step is widely seen as the genesis of steadily declining relations between the two countries over the past year. Meanwhile, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that his country remains unbowed by pressure exerted by the United States and its “insults” against the Islamic republic.“The Iranian nation seeks dignity, independence and progress; that’s why pressures by cruel enemies do not affect Iranians,” Khamenei said in a speech to a crowd here.“The graceful Iranian nation has been accused and insulted by the world’s most vicious regime, the US, which is a source of wars, conflicts and plunder,” he said, quoted by his office. “The Iranian nation won’t give up over such insults,” said Khamenei.Tehran and Washington have engaged in an escalating war of words following Iran’s shooting down of a US drone last week. Pressure mounted this week with US President Donald Trump announcing sanctions on Khamenei and other top Iranian officials.The new measures are the latest against Tehran since Trump last year pulled out of a landmark nuclear accord between Iran and world powers.
06-27-2019, 10:59 AM
Trump warns any conflict with Iran ?wouldn?t last long?
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