Trump: All Iran Has To Do Is “Give Up,” “Cry Uncle”
President Trump offered an update on the “genius” blockade of Iran, and said the war could end if Iran simply “gives up,” during a Q&A after an event with the four astronauts who just successfully orbited the Moon on Artemis II. He also said he’s not going to be sending his negotiators on 18-hour flights to Pakistan to continue negotiations unless the Iranians offer more and “cry uncle.”
REPORTER: Mr. President, how long are you prepared to maintain the blockade? Could that go several more months? DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, the blockade is genius. OK? The blockade has been 100% foolproof. It shows how good our Navy is-I can tell you that. Nobody’s going to play games. We have the greatest military in the world, and I built much of it during my first term, and we’ve been building it since. The greatest anywhere in the world-nobody even close. And you see that, whether it’s Venezuela-which, and they have a good military in Venezuela-but it was over in one day. It was actually over in about 48 minutes. Iran, the same thing. I mean, militarily, we’ve wiped them out. They have no military left. Their Navy is at the bottom of the sea. The Air Force is never going to fly again. We’ve got an amazing military now. Now they have to cry uncle. That’s all they have to do-just say, We give up. We give up. But their economy is really in trouble. It’s a dead economy. REPORTER: Will the blockade get Iran to nuclear talks fast enough, or do you think another wave of strikes will be necessary? DONALD TRUMP: I don’t know. It depends. We’re having talks with them now, and we’re not flying anymore with 18-hour flights every time we want to see a piece of paper. We’re doing it telephonically. And it’s very nice. I make a call or I have my people make a call, and you know the answer. I always like face-to-face-I consider it better-but when you have to fly 18 hours every time you want to have a meeting, and you know what the meeting is all about, and you know they’re going to give you a piece of paper that you don’t like before you even leave, it’s ridiculous. They’ve come a long way. The question is whether or not they’re going to go far enough. So at this moment, there will never be a deal unless they agree that there will be no nuclear weapons.
