The extreme statements of US President Trump over the weekend and the threats he made to Iran caused confusion and uproar. A foreign policy expert even spoke of a possible “disaster for the whole world”.
The traditional Easter egg hunt in the White House garden, as well as the entire Easter holidays in the US, were overshadowed by the war in the Middle East. US President Trump posted various statements on his online platform Truth Social every day – some of which were quite offensive and belligerent - a fact that also drew criticism in the US.
His press conference on Monday (6.4.) added fuel to the fire, notes the German public media ARD. Trump gave the Iranian regime until 8 pm Eastern Time (3 am Bulgarian time on Wednesday) to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping and conclude an agreement with it that is “acceptable” from his point of view.
Trump again threatens with destruction
If this does not happen, Trump once again threatened Iran with drastic consequences: “We have a plan based on the power of our armed forces. By midnight tomorrow, every bridge in Iran will be destroyed, every power plant will be disabled, it will burn, it will explode and it will never be able to be used again”. Trump spoke of “total destruction by midnight“, which would be carried out within four hours, “if we want it”.
If the US really attacks civilian power plants, critics say Trump would be committing war crimes. However, this does not worry the American president, he is clearly not worried about such a thing.
“A catastrophe for the whole world”
Richard Haas of the analytical center “Council on Foreign Relations“ expressed hope in an interview with the radio station NPR that Trump's statements are only threats aimed at improving the US's chances of negotiations. “If this really happens, I think it would be a catastrophe – not only for Iran, but also for the countries in the region, for the United States and for the entire world“, Haas said.
The Strait of Hormuz would then remain impassable, and the nuclear threat from Iran would not be successfully overcome. “All we would achieve in this way is an even bigger and even more destructive war - we have to remain realistic in this regard.“
Donald Trump spoke for almost 90 minutes at the White House, issuing threats, praising his own armed forces and once again accusing a number of countries of not supporting the United States in the war or of doing so too late. Australia, South Korea, Japan and Germany were mentioned in this line of thought, as well as NATO, whose Secretary General Mark Rutte arrives in Washington on Wednesday. Trump once again called the Alliance a "book tiger".
The conflict with NATO
Trump said that the conflict with NATO began because the allies did not want to give the United States Greenland. The president then ended the press conference and refused to answer journalistic questions.