President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that Iran would face “total obliteration” if it attempted to assassinate him, even if it were successful. Speaking from the Oval Office while signing documents to impose new sanctions on Iran, Trump responded to questions about his “maximum pressure” strategy aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
When Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked Trump how close Iran was to developing nuclear weapons, the president acknowledged that the country was nearing that threshold. “I think they’re close, I think they’re close. They’re too close. But again, you can go back four years, I would have said they would have had it during this intervening period. But they’re pretty close, Peter,” Trump said.
Doocy then raised the topic of threats from Iran and its proxies against Trump and his administration in retaliation for the U.S. killing of General Qasem Soleimani. Trump responded by emphasizing the consequences Iran would face if they carried out such an act. “Well, they haven’t done that, and that would be a terrible thing for them to do. Not because of me, but if they did that, they would be obliterated. That would be the end of it,” he said. He further added, “I’ve left instructions: If they do it, they get obliterated. There won’t be anything left.”
Trump also criticized President Biden for failing to take a similar stance, suggesting Biden’s lack of action could be due to insufficient intelligence. “If that happens to a leader or close to a leader, frankly, if you had other people involved also, you would call for total obliteration of a state that did it — that would include Iran,” Trump remarked, underlining that his directive was a powerful document but hoped it would never need to be used.
Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy aims to cripple Iran’s oil exports in order to force the Iranian regime to negotiate or to spark internal unrest that could lead to regime change.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice charged an Afghan national in connection with an Iranian plot to assassinate Trump last November.
