Featured Image Credit: Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images
Topics: Donald Trump, Iran, US News, Politics
Phoebe Tonks
Topics: Donald Trump, Iran, US News, Politics
Donald Trump has addressed the nation regarding the ongoing conflict with Iran, while also offering a slither of hope to Americans currently being crippled by rising oil and gas prices.
The President made his address at 9pm on Wednesday evening, when he kicked off his speech by praising NASA for it’s successful Artemis II launch, before getting stuck in to his update on the ongoing war.
For much of the speech, he reiterated points he has made in the past, such as praising military personnel for their actions, hyping up his seizure of Venezuela as a point of reference, and also reiterating that Iran must be allowed no access to nuclear capabilities in any way, shape, or form.
In particular, he blamed Iran for the current surge in energy prices in the US, and promised they would soon plummet back to normal once the war had come to an end - and that may be sooner rather than later.
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In a slight contradiction however, he insisted that the US doesn't need any oil imported through the Strait of Hormuz, adding that countries who need it should take the lead in reopening it - and claimed the US now has the biggest oil and gas reserves on the planet.
Although Trump declined to give an actual date by which Operation Epic Fury would end, he did state that the ‘core objectives’ were ‘near completion’ after ‘decimating’ Iran’s core infrastructure and he once again suggested a timeline of ‘two to three weeks’ for a resolution, as he added that the US will hit Iran ‘extremely hard over the next two to three weeks’.
The President also defended his decision to go to war at all, as he made a subtle dig at his predecessors and described Iran as a 'murderous regime’ that ‘should have been handled long before I arrived in office’. Rather than singling out one former President, he even boldly pointed the finger of blame at all sitting Presidents from Ronald Reagan onwards, who he claimed should have intervened during the past 47 years.
In his closing remarks, Trump went on to explain that the US ‘holds all the cards’ in the conflict as he insisted he didn’t need to attack the country, but chose to do so for the good of national and global security.
He also insisted that he hadn’t set out with the intention of triggering a regime change in Iran or liberating it’s people, but it had happened coincidentally after the US killed the country’s leaders in a targeted bomb strike.
The new leaders who have since stepped up are thought to be more ‘moderate’ and ‘progressive’, and Trump hopes to secure an agreement with the regime but warns: "If there is no deal, we are going to hit each and every one of their electric generating plants very hard."
"We have all the cards," he adds, and "they have none."