US President Donald Trump has warned that a new military strike against Iran could be five times more powerful than previous attacks. However, according to Trump, Gulf countries prefer maintaining the current military approach and avoiding further escalation of the war.
In a telephone interview with C-SPAN’s Washington Journal Primetime, Trump claimed that Iran wants to reach an agreement with Washington but is unwilling to acknowledge this publicly.
“They want to make a deal. They just don’t say it publicly,” the US president said.
Trump also claimed that the Iranian military had been significantly weakened by US strikes.
“We won Venezuela, and we won Iran. We wiped out their Navy, wiped out their Air Force, wiped out everything, their anti-aircraft systems; we wiped out their leaders,” he said.
Speaking about the possibility of renewed escalation, Trump also mentioned Mount Kazmeh, saying that the United States could be forced to strike it if Iran took action there, although he added that no such developments were currently being observed.
The US president also reiterated that Washington would not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.
“Ultimately, we cannot allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon, because they will use it,” he declared.
Trump said he had discussed the situation with representatives of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait. According to him, these countries would prefer to avoid a new attack, which he said would be far more powerful than the previous one.
“Speaking with Qatar, as you know, the prime minister was in the Oval Office today, talking with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait… they would prefer to do this rather than another strike, which would be approximately five times greater than the first strike,” Trump said.
