Donald Trump rages at NATO ‘cowards’ and declares Iran battle is ‘gained’
Donald Trump has launched a scathing attack on NATO, while declaring the Iran war is ‘won’.
The US President posted the rant on Truth Social on Friday, branding NATO ‘cowards’, while claiming the fight was ‘militarily won’.
Writing on Truth Social on Friday, Trump said: “Without the U.S.A., NATO IS A PAPER TIGER!
“They didn’t want to join the fight to stop a Nuclear Powered Iran. Now that fight is Militarily WON, with very little danger for them, they complain about the high oil prices they are forced to pay, but don’t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz, a simple military maneuver that is the single reason for the high oil prices.
“So easy for them to do, with so little risk. COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
The scathing attack comes as the US-Israel war with Iran has been going on for three weeks now. The joint attack which was launched on February 28 has killed around 1,300 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, was assassinated in Tehran as part of a series of Israeli airstrikes aimed at high-ranking Iranian officials. Khamenei’s death was confirmed by the Iranian government on 1 March.
Iran has threatened to target tourist and leisure sites around the world while insisting it continues to produce missiles, in a stark warning issued almost three weeks into the ongoing conflict with the United States and Israel.
The defiant message came as US and Israeli strikes have killed several of Tehran’s most senior figures and dealt heavy blows to the country’s weapons and energy infrastructure.
Tehran has responded with attacks on Israel as well as energy facilities in neighbouring Gulf Arab states, coinciding with one of the holiest periods in the Muslim calendar. The escalation has also overshadowed Nowruz, the Persian New Year, which is typically marked with nationwide celebrations but has been notably subdued this year.
With limited information emerging from inside Iran, the full extent of the damage to its military, nuclear and energy capabilities remains unclear. It is also uncertain who holds effective control within the country’s leadership. Despite this, Iran has demonstrated it retains the capacity to carry out disruptive strikes, fuelling instability in global oil markets and driving up food and fuel prices well beyond the Middle East.
Washington and Tel Aviv have outlined broad and at times differing objectives, ranging from triggering internal unrest to dismantling Iran’s nuclear and missile programmes. However, there have been no visible signs of an uprising, and analysts say it remains unclear what capabilities Iran still possesses or how the conflict may ultimately conclude.
On Friday, Iran’s senior military spokesman, General Abolfazl Shekarchi, warned that “parks, recreational areas and tourist destinations” across the globe could become targets for Tehran’s enemies, raising fears the country could revert to militant operations outside the region.
US and Israeli officials have claimed that weeks of sustained strikes have severely weakened Iran’s armed forces. The campaign has reportedly killed key figures including the supreme leader, the head of the Supreme National Security Council and several high-ranking military commanders. Israel said it also killed Esmail Ahmadi, intelligence chief of the Basij, in a strike earlier this week.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Iran’s navy had been destroyed and its air force left in disarray, adding that its ballistic missile production had been neutralised. That claim was rejected by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
Speaking to state media, Guard spokesman General Ali Mohammad Naeini said missile production was continuing despite the war. “We are producing missiles even during war conditions… there is no particular problem in stockpiling,” he said.
He also signalled there would be no swift resolution to the conflict, adding that Iran expected the war to continue until its adversaries were “completely exhausted.”
