Will the US attack Iran? Here’s Trump’s answer

“Hope there won’t be further action with Iran” – President Trump expresses hope that war with Iran can be avoided, but notes regime continues nuclear program, has indiscriminately killed protesters.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

President Donald Trump expressed hope Wednesday that a new conflict between the US and Iran can be avoided, while reiterating his threats against the regime if it executes jailed dissident protesters.

Speaking with CNBC on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump expressed “hope” that a new conflict can be avoided, while hinting that the US could intervene in Iran over the crackdown on protests or Iran’s attempts to reconstitute its uranium enrichment program.

“Well, we hope there’s not going to be further action, but, you know, they’re shooting people indiscriminately in the streets,” Trump said.

When asked whether there would be additional American military “action” against Iran, the president responded, “Could be,” adding that the US is working to determine the current status of Iran’s nuclear program.

“It’s a rough place. It’s a place that we hit very hard… ending the nuclear, they would have had a nuclear weapon long ago, actually already, they would have had a nuclear weapon probably a month after we hit, had we not hit. And we hit them hard.”

“So we’re going to find out where they are now about what they’re going to do with nuclear. They can’t do the nuclear. The one thing I have been strong on, they can’t do the nuclear.”

Trump appeared to hint at possible regime change in Tehran, comparing a possible operation in Iran to the recent arrest of Venezuela’s president.

“It’s going to happen again,” Trump said. “They have got to stop with the nuclear. They keep experimenting with nuclear. And, at some point, they’re going to get the idea that they can’t do that. They’re just not going to be able to do that. Can’t let them have it.”

The president also warned Iran not to execute any of the more than 800 dissident protesters reportedly slated for hanging last week.

“Well, they had one thing specifically that really got me. They were going to hang, hang, the old-fashioned hanging. They were going to hang 837 people on Thursday. And I told them you can’t do that. If you do that, it’s going to be bad. I don’t want to go exactly what I said, but nasty. And they canceled it, hopefully permanently.”