President Donald Trump has warned the Iranian regime that “time is running out” for negotiating a deal as a “massive Armada” approaches the Persian Gulf.
Setting the terms for negotiation, President Trump told Tehran that it would not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. If the regime ignores his ultimatum, he vowed that the “next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again,” referring to the “Operation Midnight Hammer” that dismantled the Iranian nuclear weapons program last summer.
The U.S. is “ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence,” the president posted in Truth Social:
A massive Armada is heading to Iran. It is moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose. It is a larger fleet, headed by the great Aircraft Carrier Abraham Lincoln, than that sent to Venezuela. Like with Venezuela, it is, ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary. Hopefully Iran will quickly “Come to the Table” and negotiate a fair and equitable deal – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS – one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence! As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL! They didn’t, and there was “Operation Midnight Hammer,” a major destruction of Iran. The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP
President Trump’s warning comes as the USS Abraham Lincoln and accompanying destroyers were coming within striking distance of Iran, online ship tracking tools suggest. The U.S. naval and military bases in the region also provide additional strike capabilities against Tehran. “Using open-source tools, BBC Verify has been able to track some of the US deployments to the area. A US defence official confirmed to BBC Verify that a naval “armada” led by the USS Abraham Lincoln had also arrived in the Middle East,” the British broadcaster reported Wednesday.
In case of a U.S. strike, Iran has threatened to attack Israel, besides hitting American military bases and commercial shipping in the region. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tehran against undertaking such a misadventure, Israel’s i24NEWS TV channel reported Wednesday:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also issued a warning to Tehran during a press conference Tuesday night, saying any attack on Israel would be met with an overwhelming response.“Any attack on Israel will bring about a response that you can’t even imagine,” Netanyahu said. He added, “President Trump will decide what he decides; the State of Israel will decide what it decides. We are prepared for any scenario.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Tuesday, disclosed that many Israeli soldiers had lost their lives fighting Hamas terrorists in Gaza because of the weapons embargo placed by President Joe Biden’s administration. “Heroes fell” due to the Biden White House’s policy of halting and delaying the delivery of ammunition to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as it was in a crucial stage of fighting in the summer of 2024, the Israeli prime minister said.
In June 2024, Prime Minister Netanyahu revealed that the Biden administration had been withholding much-needed ammunition in a bid to force Israel into making concessions to Hamas terrorists. He stated that “four months ago, there was a dramatic decrease in the munitions coming to Israel from the US. For long weeks, we turned to our American friends and requested that the shipments be expedited.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu was forced to make this public after months of behind-the-scenes diplomacy. “We did this time and again. We did so at the highest levels, and at all levels, and I want to emphasize – we did so behind closed doors,” he said at that time.
The Times of Israel reports:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted Tuesday that some Israeli soldiers lost their lives in the war against Hamas because of what he called an “embargo” that allegedly caused Israel to run out of ammunition.He did not specify how many soldiers lost their lives for this reason, or precisely when it ostensibly happened. The premier did not directly name the Biden administration, but said that the “embargo” ended as soon as US President Donald Trump took office.Netanyahu has repeatedly accused the Biden administration of instituting an embargo on arms supplies to Israel, notably in June 2024. Biden has denied withholding arms from Israel apart from a batch of 2,000-pound “bunker buster” bombs amid concerns about how they would be used in the southern Gaza city of Rafah at that time.Speaking at the very end of a lengthy press conference, in remarks that were not prompted by a question, Netanyahu said Israel paid “very heavy prices” in the war in terms of the loss of soldiers’ lives. While “part of that is what happens in war,” he said, part of it stemmed from the fact that “at a certain stage, we didn’t have enough ammunition.”Soldiers at the time were fighting in areas where artillery and air force weaponry had been used, but terrorists had remained in booby-trapped houses, Netanyahu said.“Heroes fell” because they didn’t have the ammunition they needed, he charged. And “part of that absent ammunition was because of the embargo.”Netanyahu said he has resolved that this will never happen again, and that is why he is determined to ensure that Israel has its own strong and independent arms industry, repeating his declaration from earlier this month that he hoped to make Israel less dependent on US military aid in the next decade.
To that end, he said, he is aiming to shift the Israel-US relationship “from aid to partnership” when it comes to weapons, with Israeli development and joint production, and that such a partnership could extend to allies, including India and Germany, as well.
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