From CBS News:President Trump lambasted America’s closest allies again on Friday, dismissing the seven decade-old NATO alliance as “A PAPER TIGER” without the U.S. military, and calling its other members “COWARDS” for not meeting his demands to send forces to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Declaring the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran “Militarily WON,” Mr. Trump said in his post on Truth Social that there was now “very little danger for them” in the region, despite ongoing Iranian missile and drone attacks.
“They complain about the high oil prices they are forced to pay, but don’t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz,” Mr. Trump said, claiming it would be “a simple military maneuver” to do so and calling the shipping lane’s closure “the single reason for the high oil prices.”
“So easy for them to do, with so little risk,” said the president. “COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER!”
Six major U.S. allies, the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Japan, expressed readiness to contribute to ensuring safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. The allies did not provide specific actions but indicated willingness to participate in an international mission to secure shipping once hostilities end. The potential mission aims to secure shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
A second Marine expeditionary unit of about 2,200 U.S. Marines and three warships is headed toward the Middle East.
Pentagon officials have also made detailed preparations for deploying U.S. ground forces into Iran as President Trump weighs moves in the U.S.-Israel-led conflict with Iran, according to reports. The second unit could take a few weeks to be in place.
Trump is reportedly in the midst of debating placing ground forces in the region, sources said on condition of anonymity. Circumstances for ground troop authorization remain unclear.
President Trump praised the U.S. operation at a White House event honoring the U.S. Navy Midshipmen football team.
“I want to begin by just saying we’re doing extremely well in Iran,” he said. “The difference between them and us is they had a navy two weeks ago. They have no navy anymore. It’s all at the bottom of the sea.”
“We’re not going to let them have nuclear weapons,” he added. “Because if they had them, they’d use them, and we’re not going to let that happen.”
He revealed that the U.S. is trying to speak with Iranian leaders, but said there’s nobody left to talk to.
“Their leaders are all gone,” he said. “The next set of leaders are all gone. And the next set of leaders are mostly gone. And now, nobody wants to be a leader over there anymore. We’re having a hard time, we want to talk to them and there’s nobody to talk to. We have nobody to talk to. And you know what, we like it that way.”
Iran had good “Russian equipment, Chinese equipment,” and “plenty of money,” Trump said, adding that the equipment “was useless against us.”
The president praised Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Minister of Defense, Israel Katz, said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have instructed Israel’s military to strike Syrian regime infrastructure in southern Syria in response “to harm inflicted on the Druze population in southern Syria.”
“We will not allow the Syrian regime to exploit our war against Iran and Hezbollah to harm the Druze,” he said. “If necessary, we will strike with even greater force.”
On Thursday, the U.K. warned Iran on against “directly” targeting British bases, territory or interests.
Britain’s Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper “condemned Iran’s reckless attacks – including on Gulf partners and critical energy infrastructure – and Iran’s disruption and closure of the Strait of Hormuz. She called for the immediate restoration of freedom of navigation,” in a conversation with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
“The Foreign Secretary made clear to the Foreign Minister that the defensive UK operations in the region were a response to the Iranian aggression against Gulf partners countries who had not attacked Iran and she called on Iran to immediately stop these reckless strikes against its neighbours,” a spokesperson for the U.K.’s Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office said in a statement.
Iran’s foreign ministry said Araghchi told Cooper that if the U.S. uses British bases, it would be seen as “participation in aggression” against the Islamic Republic, AFP reported.
The U.S. military has been given access to use U.K. bases to launch strikes against Iranian missile sites attacking ships in the key Strait of Hormuz, the British government said Friday.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said Iran’s attacks against shipping vessels “risked pushing the region further into crisis and worsening the economic impact being felt in the UK and around the world.”
The U.S. can use its bases “to degrade the missile sites and capabilities being used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz,” Starmer’s office said.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei released a statement on Friday as the country marks Nowruz, Persian New Year, addressed to the Iranian people.
The test said their vigilance and sacrifices delivered a “crippling blow” to “the enemy,” which had thought Iranians “would overthrow the Islamic system” after a day or two, calling it “a gross miscalculation.”
It said “the enemy” had a “false assumption” that killing top military figures “would create fear and despair among the people and enable their domination over Iran and eventual partition.”
“The enemy, America and Israel, have been repeatedly trying to inflict harm on the Iranian nation, but your resilience and widespread efforts have confused and weakened them,” the message said.
Read more at CBS News
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