WASHINGTON (TNND) — On the next steps in the war with Iran, a seemingly emboldened President Donald Trump is pushing ahead, issuing multiple threats this week.
The day before, in the Oval Office, he said, “We have to make that decision. We blow them up. Make a deal. But the time is coming. It’s going to end very soon one way or the other.” (TNND)
On Thursday, he said, “Now I have to make a decision. They’ll either sign a very fair deal or they won’t exist any longer.”
The day before, in the Oval Office, he said, “We have to make that decision. We blow them up. Make a deal. But the time is coming. It’s going to end very soon one way or the other.”
But the messages are mixed, with signs pointing both to a drawdown and a ramping up.
The U.S. military is reportedly sending about 9,000 additional troops to the Middle East, an expanded presence that includes a third aircraft carrier.- the USS Theodore Roosevelt.
The President is also linking the alleged hijacking of the FlyDubai plane this week to Iran, though evidence so far has been sparse.
Iranian state media also released a video, suggesting the incident was planned after a recent visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the United Arab Emirates.
The video blames Israel for what it calls a “false flag operation” to try to push the United States back into war with Iran.
Meanwhile, British authorities now say Iran was likely behind an alleged terror plot outside the RAF Fairford in which five men were arrested but later released on bail.
In an interview with Sky News Wednesday, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said,” There is indeed a strong indication that Iran played a part. This remains though a complex and very serious police investigation.”
Iran’s foreign minister responded in a post online.
“PM Burnham says the UK Government “can confirm our belief that we believe Iran to have played a part” in the RAF Fairford incident.
I can confirm Iran’s belief that releasing supposed terrorists working for foreign states really says it all.
“You’re barking up the wrong tree,” Seyed Abbas Araghchi wrote on X.
One of the biggest points of leverage for Iran has been the crucial shipping waterway, the Strait of Hormuz, which it sought to control with threatened attacks.
There are signs now that leverage may be slipping away.
Exports of crude oil from the Middle East just reached pre-war levels, industry analysts say.
Saudi Arabia and other top oil exporters are using new methods to transit the Strait or alternative pipelines and routes as a new phase in the war may already be underway.
Trump has continued to defend the U.S. role in the war.
In a post on Truth Social, he wrote:
I stated, numerous times, that it would take 4-6 weeks to get rid of the Iran nuclear threat, and i did it in one night! The rest of the time is just to make sure it stays that way.