Trump says Iranian people want more US strikes for ‘freedom’ as his deadline looms
US leader said he was unsure if the war was escalating or easing, but warned of sweeping strikes if no deal is reached by Tuesday at 8pm EST
US President Donald Trump has claimed that ordinary Iranians were urging the US to keep bombing their own country in pursuit of “freedom”, as he renewed his warning of sweeping strikes on Iran’s critical infrastructure if negotiations fail ahead of his Tuesday deadline.
“Complete demolition by 12 o’clock … over a period of four hours, if we wanted to,” he said, but added that Washington did not want to pursue that outcome and could instead help rebuild the country if an agreement was reached.
“We need to have a deal that’s acceptable to me, and that includes free traffic in the Strait of Hormuz,” he added.
While he admitted that he did not know whether the war was winding down or escalating, Trump alleged that the people of Iran were willing to “suffer” and wanted the US to keep “dropping” bombs for “freedom”.
“They would be willing to suffer that in order to have freedom … We’ve had numerous intercepts: ‘please keep bombing’ – bombs that are dropping near their homes. ‘Please keep bombing. Do it’,” Trump said.