 "Trump says have left instructions to 'obliterate' Iran if it assassinated him")
US President Donald Trump has said that he has left instruction to “obliterate” Iran if he is assassinated by the regime.
The United States has charged Iran with trying to assassinate Trump. Last year, the Department of Justice indicted many persons for trying to assassinate Trump on behalf of Iran. One of them was quoted as saying that Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) was behind the plot.
Even though Trump has now turned soft on US adversaries and has instead gone after allies and partners, threatening them with invasions, he pursued a hawkish policy regarding Iran in his first term (2017-21) that put him in Iran’s crosshairs, particularly after the US assassination of top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani.
Trump gave the threat while signing an executive order reimposing ‘maximum pressure’ strategy on Iran. What the strategy would entail is not known.
“If they did that, they would be obliterated. That would be the end. I’ve left instructions. If they do it, they get obliterated. There won’t be anything left. Biden should have said that, but he never did,” said Trump.
The New York Times, however, quoted experts as saying that a president cannot dictate how the government or military would act after their death as the decision would be made by their successor.
While signing the executive order, Trump said that he was torn about it. He said he did not want to do it.
“So this is one I’m torn about. Everyone wants me to sign it. I’ll do that…We have to be strong and firm and I hope that it’s not going to have to be used in any great measure at all,” said Trump.
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View AllLater at the press conference with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said that “we will once again enforce the most aggressive possible sanctions to drive Iranian oil exports to zero and diminish the regime’s capacity to fund terror throughout the region and through the world”.
Even though Trump has hailed the maximum pressure strategy, it turned out to be a spectacular failure in his first term. Instead of containing Iran, it egged the regime to ramp up nuclear enrichment and reach the threshold of developing a nuclear weapon.
In a previous story, Iran expert Deepika Saraswat told Firstpost, “The maximum pressure strategy failed spectacularly. The Iran Nuclear Deal was not perfect. It was a compromise as it could not secure the dismantling of the Iranian nuclear programme the way the United States and Israel would have wanted. But it capped nuclear enrichment, allowed for monitoring of the nuclear programme, and prevented the development of the bomb. After Trump exited the deal, Iran ramped up the enrichment. Now, Iran retaliates to sanctions with more enrichment.”
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