Trump warns Iran of severe retaliation over Flydubai cockpit attack
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Washington: President Donald Trump has threatened Iran with severe retaliation if it is found to have orchestrated the cockpit attack on a Flydubai passenger jet, saying Tehran would be hit “very hard” while adding that a possible Iranian link was still being probed.
Speaking to reporters before departing the White House for Texas, Trump indicated he was being briefed on a potential connection between the co-pilot involved in the incident and Iran. “We’re working on it right now. They’re being very open with us. Uh, I would say the answer based on what I’m hearing is yes, but we’re working on it right now,” he said, without providing evidence and stressing the investigation was ongoing.
Asked whether the man could have been placed on the aircraft by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or radicalised through other means, the President replied: “It could have been, yeah.”
Pressed on whether the United States would strike back if Tehran was found responsible, Trump said: “Oh, they’ll be hit very hard. Don’t worry. You just ask them. They know what happened. They’ll be hit very hard.”
Trump then turned to Iran’s economic and military condition and US leverage over the Strait of Hormuz. “Look, Iran now has got 301 per cent inflation. Their money is valueless. Their economy is gone. They have no military. They have no anti-aircraft computers. They have very little going, and we control the strait,” he said, claiming Washington was moving more oil through the strategic waterway than before the war.
“We took out more oil in the last two days than at any time in the history of the Strait, and that includes before the war,” Trump said, praising the US Navy and military before framing his next move on Iran as an ultimatum. “They’ll either sign a very fair deal or they won’t exist any longer,” he said.
Reiterating his red line on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, Trump said: “They cannot have nuclear weapons and they won’t have, and they’re agreeing not to have.” On the domestic political fallout from the Iran war, he acknowledged it could influence the midterm elections but argued that blocking a nuclear-armed Iran should benefit him. “Well, it’s possible. I don’t — it should help because Iran will not have a nuclear weapon,” he said.
The Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was diverted to Saudi Arabia after the co-pilot allegedly stabbed the Indian captain and tried to crash the aircraft. The captain managed to unlock the cockpit, enabling others on board to intervene and the plane to land safely. Multiple authorities are investigating, but no public evidence has yet established Iranian involvement.
The incident unfolds against a backdrop of heightened US–Iran tensions following the recent war and renewed American pressure on Tehran’s nuclear programme. Trump’s remarks amounted to a stark warning, though he stopped short of saying investigators had conclusively linked Iran to the attack.
(Inputs from IANS)