Trump says he may have to ‘destroy the rest’ of Iran

United States (US) President Donald Trump has said he is weighing whether to finish off what remains of Iran, telling reporters that the world will “know soon enough” what he decides.

According to Anadolu Agency, Trump made the remarks in the Oval Office on Thursday, November 5, days after the US midterm elections. “Now we’ll make a decision: Do we want to go further and just certify it, by certifying it meaning it will never happen again?” he said.

“I would rather not destroy the rest of the country, if possible, but maybe I’ll have to,” Trump added, without saying what action he had in mind.

He claimed it would take Iran 25 years to rebuild after the US-Israeli war on the country, which began in February and has yet to be settled.

Asked about reports that Iran had sent a proposal on the future of its nuclear programme to the US through mediators, Trump said Tehran was “not doing anything without our approval”. He did not say whether Washington was part of the mediation.

Decision after the midterms

Axios reported that Trump spoke after meeting his national security advisers, and that he said he would soon decide whether to resume all-out war with Iran now that the midterms are over. Israel National News quoted him as saying the US is “locked and loaded” if it has to “do the rest of the Iran thing”.

The remarks drew criticism from Democratic lawmakers. Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari accused Trump of threatening to destroy a country of 90 million people and called his Iran war a “reckless war of choice”, Gulf News reported.

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