Washington: US President Donald Trump warned that Iran would be hit “very hard” if Tehran is found to be behind the attack aboard a Flydubai passenger aircraft, while saying that information he was receiving suggested a possible Iranian link was being investigated.
Trump made the remarks while speaking to reporters before leaving the White House for Texas. He was asked whether he had been briefed on whether the co-pilot involved in the Flydubai incident was linked to Iran. “We’re working on it right now. They’re being very open with us. Uh, I would say the answer based on what I’m hearing is yes, but we’re working on it right now,” Trump said. Asked whether the man could have been placed aboard the aircraft by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or radicalised in some other way, Trump replied: “It could have been, yeah.”
Trump did not provide evidence of an Iranian connection and stressed that the matter was still being examined. Later in the exchange, the President was asked directly whether the United States would retaliate against Iran if Tehran was found to have been behind the incident. “Oh, they’ll be hit very hard. Don’t worry. You just ask them. They know what happened. They’ll be hit very hard,” Trump said. He then broadened his remarks to Iran’s economy, military capabilities and the Strait of Hormuz. “Look, Iran now has got 301 per cent inflation. Their money is valueless. Their economy is gone. They have no military. They have no anti-aircraft computers. They have very little going, and we control the strait,” Trump said. The President also claimed the United States was moving more oil through the Strait of Hormuz than before the war. “We took out more oil in the last two days than at any time in the history of the Strait, and that includes before the war,” he said.
Trump praised the US military and said he now faced a decision over Iran’s next steps. “I tell you what, you know what it is, our Navy is incredible. Our military is incredible, the job they’ve done. Now I have to make a decision. They’ll either sign a very fair deal or they won’t exist any longer,” he said.
Earlier, Trump reiterated his position that Iran would not be permitted to possess nuclear weapons. “They cannot have nuclear weapons and they won’t have, and they’re agreeing not to have,” he said. Asked separately about the political impact of the Iran war in the United States, Trump acknowledged that it could affect the midterm elections but argued that preventing Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons should help him politically. “Well, it’s possible. I don’t — it should help because Iran will not have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
The Flydubai incident involved an Israel-bound flight from Dubai that was diverted to Saudi Arabia after the co-pilot allegedly attacked the Indian captain and attempted to crash the aircraft. The captain managed to unlock the cockpit, allowing others aboard to intervene and the aircraft to be landed safely. Authorities in several countries are investigating the incident. No evidence publicly establishing Iranian involvement had emerged as of Thursday. The episode comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran following the Iran war and renewed US pressure over Iran’s nuclear programme. Trump’s comments on Thursday marked a significant warning but stopped short of saying that investigators had reached a definitive conclusion about Tehran’s involvement in the Flydubai incident.