Donald Trump has claimed he has no “exit strategy” if the US goes to war with Iran, the latest sabre-rattling from the US president as tensions between the two countries refused to cool.
On a day that saw Mr Trump threaten to obliterate Iran if it attacked any US assets and Tehran vow to respond if another US drone were to breach its airspace, the president left open the door for talks. He said Iran should inform the US when it was ready to negotiate.
At the same time, he also suggested that military conflict between the two countries was a genuine possibility.
Asked in the White House, where he was sighing an unrelated executive order, if he had an “exit strategy” if the US were to go to war with Iran, he said: “You’re not going to need an exit strategy. I don’t do exit strategies.”
At another photo opportunity with the media, the president was asked what message he had for Iran’s leaders.
“I’ll tell you what the message is: When they’re ready – let us know,” he said. Asked if he meant when Iran was ready to negotiate, he added: “Ready to do whatever. Doesn’t make a difference. Whatever they want to do, I’m ready.”
The president has started the day with stern threats, delivered on Twitter. Responding to headlines from Iran that said it considered new US sanctions imposed on Monday against the nation’s supreme leader “closing the door of diplomacy”, Mr Trump said Iran’s comments were “ignorant and insulting”.
“Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force,” he wrote. “In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration. No more John Kerry & Obama!
