President Donald Trump on Wednesday dismissed questions on whether the shaky ceasefire with Iran is holding by suggesting that the definition of a ceasefire is different in the Middle East region.
Asked whether the ceasefire is still in place after Iran fired missiles against targets in Kuwait, Trump replied that there was “a reason” for the exchange of fire.
“We’ve been hitting them pretty hard, a little bit, so there is a reason for certain things, and there’s usually a reason that sometimes makes sense. Some, but they did something for not a big deal. We got it, we nipped it in the bud very quickly, as we do with the greatest military in the world, but some people would say they were slightly provoked because we took a strong action for a different reason, so they were reciprocating,” he said.
“It’s a different part of the world, you know. I’d say in that part a ceasefire is when you’re shooting in a more moderate manner.”
The president added later that “anything can happen” when dealing with Tehran because it is in “a very volatile part of the world” and suggested that the U.S. military is eager to wipe out Iran’s entire civilization even as he remains in favor of finalizing what has been a long-running tentative agreement to end the conflict and halt Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
“If we can get something down in writing, which will accomplish the same thing without killing everybody, I’d like to do that. Most of my people, I think, would like to do that. Some people wouldn’t, but most of them would,” he said.
“There’s no, never been a military like what we have. We could go another two, three weeks and just wipe everybody out. We’re glad, rather than not doing that. Very easy to do. They’re ready to do, they want to do it, they want to do it,” he added.
The president’s latest comments came not long after Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi defended the country’s attack on Kuwait and Bahrain as “self-defense strikes” in a post on X justifying the attack on the grounds that American forces can use bases in both countries “to attack civilian shipping and violate the ceasefire”.
“What sanctions and war failed to achieve won’t be won with more war,” he said.
The attack on Kuwait’s main airport killed one person and injured 63 others. The Kuwaiti defense ministry said it had shot down 13 missiles and 17 drones sent into their airspace by Tehran.
Separately, U.S. Central Command said it had attacked a fortified Iranian island near the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, including a “self-defense” strike on a ground control tower on Qeshm Island which it claimed had been used for the attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain.
The Pentagon called the Iranian strike against Kuwait a “deliberate, calculated, and unjustified attack” and rejected Tehran’s claims that it had been an American missile that had hit the Kuwaiti airport.
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