Trump threatens to 'blow up entire country' if they 'don't behave' in off-the-cuff remark
With the Strait of Hormuz now closed for nearly 90 days, Donald Trump faced questions about the Middle East during a cabinet meeting yesterday (27 May).
As it impacts countries across the globe, it isn’t helping the US president’s domestic ratings as Americans experience a spike in petrol prices.
And Trump had a bit of a shocker when speaking in Washington as he mixed up Venezuela with Iran.
He seemed to downplay the military stand-off with Iran as he said he doesn’t ‘call it a war’ but calls ‘it a conflict’.
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But in an arguably war-like comment, he made an off-the-cuff remark as he seemed to threaten to ‘blow up’ a country if they ‘don’t behave’.
This ominous remark came as the president took questions from reporters.
“Would you accept a short-term deal that allows Iran and Oman to control the strait?” one asked Trump at the cabinet meeting.
And this led to him warning: “It’s international waters and Oman will behave just like everybody else or we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that. They’ll be fine.”
He added: “Nobody’s going to control it.”
Although, while he insisted no one would have control, he said the US would ‘watch over it’.
Meanwhile, in the Middle East, it was suggested that Trump may have mixed things up here as well and mistakenly said ‘Oman’ instead of saying ‘Iran’.
However, the US State Department later took to social media to share the comment alongside a transcript of the quote that did indeed refer to the Arab country.
Oman is known to be neutral and has not made comments that it wants to join Iran in controlling the Strait of Hormuz.
Also, it’s a close ally with the US, having had a relationship for over two centuries.
There has however been rumbles in this, as on the eve of the US-Israeli attack earlier this year Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Albusaidi made a public plea to ask for more time.
He wrote an article that warned that the US had ‘lost control of its own foreign policy’.
During the cabinet meeting, Trump said a deal to end the war with Iran has ‘got to be perfect’ as he argued he didn’t go through the three month-long conflict to ‘get a crummy agreement’.
Referring to Iran, the president said: “They want very much to make a deal. So far, they haven’t gotten there. We’re not satisfied with it, but we will be. Either that or will have to just finish the job.”
Trump continued: “Their navy is gone, their air force is gone, everything’s gone, and they’re negotiating on fumes. We’ll see what happens, maybe we have to go back and finish it, maybe we don’t.”
Insisting the Strait of Hormuz would have to open immediately as part of any deal, the president said: “It’s got to be perfect. I didn’t do this to get a crummy agreement.”
Topics: Donald Trump, Iran
Jess Battison