President Trump warned Sunday that Iran could suffer a “major retaliation” if the rogue nation targets the U.S., as tensions continue to escalate in the Middle East after the U.S.-led airstrike killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
Iran has vowed to retaliate and avenge the death of the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force. However, Trump said Sunday of a potential attack: “If it happens, it happens. If they do anything, there will be major retaliation.”
Iranian officials also announced they would be abandoning the 2015 nuclear deal, signaling threats of further nuclear proliferation.
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Trump had tweeted Saturday that the Iran’s cultural sites were potential targets for U.S. military action. “They’re allowed to kill our people. They’re allowed to torture and maim our people. They’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people, and we’re not allowed to touch their cultural sites? It doesn’t work that way,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday.
Earlier that day, Iraqi lawmakers approved a resolution calling to expel U.S. troops from the country, who were sent there more than four years ago to aid in the fight against the Islamic State terror group.
Trump said American troops would refuse to leave unless the Iraqi government paid back the U.S. for “a very extraordinarily expensive air base that’s there.”
He continued, “It cost billions of dollars to build, long before my time. We’re not leaving unless they pay us back for it.”
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The president also threatened to charge Iraq “sanctions like they’ve never seen before ever,” if they ousted U.S. troops prematurely.
“It’ll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame. If there’s any hostility, that they do anything we think is inappropriate, we are going to put sanctions on Iraq, very big sanctions on Iraq,” Trump said.
