Donald Trump threatens ‘extra of the identical’ in Iran as he dodges query on faculty bombing
The US President took questions as he departed for Ohio for a factory visit, before giving a speech in Kentucky this evening
Trump warned there was more to come(Image: Yuri Gripas/UPI/Shutterstock)
Donald Trump warned there was “more of the same” to come in Iran – but dodged a question on US strikes destroying a girls school and killing civilians.
The US President took questions as he departed for Ohio for a factory visit, before giving a speech in Kentucky this evening.
It comes after days of confusion over the rationale for attacking Iran in the first place, as well as the timing and objectives – with conflicting messaging from Trump and members of his administration.
Asked what it would take for him to declare victory in Iran, Trump replied: “More of the same – and we’ll see how that all comes out.”
He was asked whether commercial tankers should sail through the Strait of Hormuz, the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and a major route for seaborne oil and gas. There have been reports in recent days that Iran was planning to, or had already mined the vital passage.
But Trump, who is under huge pressure over skyrocketing energy and petrol prices at home as a result of the conflict, said he thought tankers should continue to use the route.
“I think they should use the Strait,” he said. “In my opinion. We took out almost all of their mine ships in one night.”
Asked if Iran had already mined the Strait, he said: “We don’t think so.”
He refused to comment on whether the conflict could be considered a victory if Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the late Ayatollah, was the country’s supreme leader.
And he evaded a question on the strike that destroyed the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school, which killed at least 175 people, most of them children.
It was reported overnight that a military investigation into the strike had determined the US was responsible – and blamed it on a targeting mistake by the US military which was aiming for a Naval base next door to the school. The school building had previously been part of the Naval complex, the New York Times reported.
Trump would not comment on the reports, saying he did not know the outcome of the investigation.
