Washington: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested the possibility of “finishing off what’s left of the Iranian Terror State” in a post on Truth Social,
raising questions about his stance on escalation amidst US-Israel’s continued war on Tehran that has now
dragged well over two weeks, bringing West Asia to a standstill. “I wonder what would happen if we ‘finished off’ what’s left of the Iranian Terror State, and let the Countries that use it, we don’t, be responsible for the so called ‘Straight?’ That would get some of our
non-responsive ‘Allies’ in gear, and fast!!! President DJT,” Trump wrote.
This development comes a day after Trump lashed out at NATO, accusing most member states of refusing to back Washington’s ongoing military operation against Iran despite supporting its broader objective. Trump’s indignant response to allies’ refusal to get involved in the war underscored that the conflict — now in its third week and causing reverberations across the global economy — is one the international community is looking to the U.S. leader to sort out himself after he launched it without consultation. “You would have thought they would have said, We’d love to send a couple of minesweepers.’ That’s not a big deal,” Trump said. “It doesn’t cost very much money. But they didn’t do that.” While he expressed resentment at traditional U.S. allies,
Trump insisted he’s OK with the solidifying dynamic of the conflict, which, for better or worse, will rest largely on his shoulders alone.
While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been urging him on this path for months, Trump has increasingly made the case that the road to conflict was chosen by one man. It started based on what Trump described as a “feeling” about the threat posed by Iran, and he has said it will end when his gut says it’s time.
“We don’t need any help, actually,” Trump told reporters as he hosted Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheál Martin for a St. Patrick’s Day visit to the White House.
Trump complained that NATO allies have counted on tens of billions of dollars in U.S. backing for Ukraine to fend off Russia’s invasion, but could not return the favor to help the U.S. and Israel in its efforts to
defang Iran, which has posed a threat to the Middle East and beyond for years. The U.S.,
he added, has spent hundreds of billions fortifying Europe
and Asian defenses. Later Tuesday, the U.S. military announced it had fired multiple 5,000-pound deep penetrator bombs on hardened Iranian missile sites along Iran’s coastline near the strait.
Trump has had a hot-and-cold relationship with the alliance, a linchpin of the post World War II national security framework that he believes had become too dependent on the U.S. Trump has hammered bloc members for spending too little and even questioned U.S. commitment to the mutual defense statute in NATO’s founding treaty that states an attack on one member is considered an attack on all.