Washington: President Donald Trump has asserted that the United States is already “essentially controlling” key strategic waterways connected to Iran and will soon move to full control, while repeating his firm stance that Tehran must never be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon.
Speaking in an interview with his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, broadcast on 77 WABC Radio, Trump defended his administration’s military actions against Iran and conceded that Americans may have to bear higher petrol and energy prices as a result of the confrontation.
“Now with Iran, they will never have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. “We’re controlling, essentially controlling and soon controlling the Straits. We’re doing very well with Iran.”
In the excerpt released on Wednesday, Trump did not specify which waterways he was referring to. He said Iran’s navy, air force and top leadership had been significantly weakened, complicating any prospects for a negotiated settlement.
“Part of the problem is so many of the leaders are gone. It’s not easy to make a deal. Nobody knows who’s leading,” he said.
Trump argued that the risk of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons justified the prospect of increased energy costs for US consumers.
“And I tell them, they’ll be, uh, a little higher for your energy cost, but they’ll be a little bit higher for gasoline,” he said. “But we have to make a journey to the Middle East because we can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”
The president claimed Iran had been “militarily wiped out” and had lost much of its ability to produce missiles and drones. He pointed to soaring inflation, a sharply weakened currency and reports of unpaid military personnel as signs of mounting pressure on Tehran.
“The reason I did it, and we had no choice, and I would’ve done it again a hundred times, they cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they won’t be having a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
He also defended the use of B-2 stealth bombers to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, saying the operation was carried out late at night and that every bomb hit its intended target.
“When we hit them with the B-2 bombers, they were exactly two weeks away from having a nuclear weapon,” he said. “And that’s why I had to do it, because you cannot let them have that kind of a weapon.”
Trump contended that had Iran obtained nuclear weapons, it would have attacked Israel and other countries in the region. He listed Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain as nations he said had been targeted by Iranian missiles.
“There would be no Israel if there was no Donald Trump,” he said, adding: “I believe the Middle East would have been entirely wiped out, but Israel definitely would have been wiped out.”
Beyond Iran, Trump touched on Venezuela, immigration, tariffs and the US economy. He claimed that tariffs were helping bring back manufacturing of automobiles, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment to the United States, describing the resulting investment and construction activity as “a renaissance”.
Cohen, who served for years as Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer before a bitter public fallout, later testified against him and emerged as one of his most vocal critics.
(Inputs from IANS)