Trump threatens Iran with an attack “much worse” than the one in June if it does not do so

President Trump threatened Iran on Wednesday with an attack “far worse” than the strikes he ordered against the country’s nuclear sites in June if Tehran does not agree to a deal to curb its nuclear program.

“A massive armada is headed to Iran. It is moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm and purpose. It is a larger fleet, led by the great aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, than the one sent to Venezuela. Like Venezuela, it is ready, willing and able to quickly accomplish its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. “Let us hope that Iran will quickly ‘come to the table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS – one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it really is of the essence!”

Trump said that if Iran did not reach a deal with the United States, the United States could carry out a worse attack than the previous one in June, when hit multiple nuclear sites with bunker buster bombs.

“As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL! They didn’t, and there was ‘Operation Midnight Hammer,’ a major destruction of Iran. The next attack will be much worse! Don’t make that happen again. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump said Wednesday.

As of Tuesday, a U.S. official confirmed to News themezone that the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, which includes the carrier and three destroyers, had crossed into US Army Central Command area of ​​responsibilitywhich includes the Middle East and the waters around Iran, although it had not necessarily reached its planned final deployment location.

While Trump has issued threats to Iran for weeks, and as the Lincoln strike group moves closer to the region, his rhetoric had largely focused on Iran’s brutal crackdown on mass street protests. Truth Social’s post on Wednesday was the first time it linked the US Navy’s major deployment in the Persian Gulf region to the stalled nuclear negotiations.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York said in a social media post on Wednesday, following Trump’s post, that the country “is ready for dialogue based on mutual respect and interests, BUT IF PRESSURED, IT WILL DEFEND AND RESPOND LIKE NEVER BEFORE!”

“The last time the United States made the mistake of starting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, it wasted more than $7 trillion and lost more than 7,000 American lives,” the Iranian mission said.

Last week, he said the “army” of American warships were heading to the Middle East as he continued to monitor the Iranian regime’s response to mass protests that began in late December.

“We have a lot of ships going in that direction just in case,” he told reporters Thursday. He called it a “good sign” that Iranian authorities had decided not to hang the protesters, adding: “We have an army heading in that direction and maybe we won’t have to use it.”

Iran’s army commander reiterated recent statements by the country’s leaders on Wednesday, saying that Iran was ready for any attack by its enemies.

“The Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran is always ready to face any threat, and if something happens, the enemy will certainly suffer serious damage,” Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, Chief of Staff and Deputy Coordinator of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran, said Wednesday, according to Iranian state media. “We face any threat on land, air and sea, and the military is always ready to face any threat.”

Iran Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abbas AraghchiMeanwhile, he said Wednesday that he was in “continuous contact” with his counterparts in other countries in the region, including US ally Qatar, and that they agreed that any new military action against Tehran would destabilize the Middle East.

“Last night I spoke with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar,” Araghichi was quoted as saying by Iranian media. “The prevailing view throughout the region is that any military threat, given the nature of the American presence here, would lead to instability throughout the region.”

Araghchi was quoted as telling reporters on the sidelines of a weekly cabinet meeting in Tehran that he had had no contact with US special envoy Steve Witkoff in recent days, and that Iran had not sought new negotiations with Washington, although he added that the two sides remained in contact through intermediaries.

“Our position is precisely that pursuing diplomacy through military threats cannot be effective,” he said. “If they want negotiations to take place, they must put aside threats, excessive demands and raising illogical issues. Negotiations have their own principles and must be carried out on an equal footing and based on mutual respect.”

Iran had been bound by an international nuclear deal since 2015, which required it to submit to external oversight of its enrichment activities and a limit on the level at which it could enrich uranium, until 2018, when Mr. Trump pulled the United States out of the agreement during his first term.

He had long criticized the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was negotiated by President Obama’s administration and signed by Iran, the United States, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany and the European Union, for being too lax on Tehran.

Despite European efforts to keep the agreement viable, the unilateral withdrawal of the United States led Iran to progressively abandon compliance with the terms of the agreement and its nuclear program. has increased during the last half decade.