US President Donald Trump. (ANI photo)
US President Donald Trump issued a warning to Iran during a telephone interview, threatening potential bombing and secondary tariffs if the Islamic Republic fails to comply with the US proposed nuclear deal.
The President outlined that Iran would be given a few weeks to comply with the agreement’s terms. Trump indicated that further action would be determined based on the progress of the deal negotiations.
The statements were made during a Sunday interview with the American news network according to local time. Here are the top statements from Trump in the last week of a variety of topics including tariffs on India.
What Trump said this week
Iran nuclear deal threats
President Donald Trump issued a stern warning to Iran, stating that if they fail to reach a nuclear agreement with the US, there will be “bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.” He also mentioned the possibility of imposing secondary tariffs on Iran, similar to those implemented four years ago.
“If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing,” Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC News. “It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before. There’s a chance that if they don’t make a deal, that I will do secondary tariffs on them like I did four years ago.”
Iran sent a response through Oman to a letter from Trump urging Tehran to reach a new nuclear deal, saying its policy was to not engage in direct negotiations with the United States while under its maximum pressure campaign and military threats, Tehran’s foreign minister was quoted as saying on Thursday.
‘Liberation day’ of tariffs
Trump announced that Wednesday would be “Liberation Day,” when he plans to unveil new tariffs intended to boost American industry by imposing import taxes on foreign goods. He expressed that if foreign car prices rise due to tariffs, it would encourage consumers to buy American-made vehicles instead.
“This is the beginning of Liberation Day in America,” Trump said. “We’re going to charge countries for doing business in our country and taking our jobs, taking our wealth, taking a lot of things that they’ve been taking over the years. They’ve taken so much out of our country, friend and foe. And, frankly, friend has been oftentimes much worse than foe.”
‘Couldn’t care less about car prices
Trump stated he “couldn’t care less” if the new 25% tariffs on foreign cars lead to higher prices, as he believes this will ultimately benefit American car manufacturers. The US president told NBC News on Saturday that he hoped foreign carmakers will raise prices as it meant “people are gonna buy American-made cars – we have plenty”.
When asked about what his message was to car bosses, he said: “The message is congratulations. If you make your car in the United States, you’re going to make a lot of money.” He continued: “If you don’t, you’re going to have to probably come to the United States, because if you make your car in the United States, there is no tariff.”
Responding to a question about whether he told CEOs of the car manufacturers to control costs, Trump said “No, I never said that. I couldn’t care less if they raise prices, because people are going to start buying American cars.”
Anger with Putin over Ukraine
Trump expressed his frustration with Vladimir Putin regarding the situation in Ukraine, threatening to impose tariffs on Russian oil if a ceasefire is not agreed upon within a month. He indicated he would target countries purchasing Russian oil with a 25% to 50% tariff.
Trump has said he is ‘pissed off’ with Putin over his approach to a ceasefire in Ukraine and threatened to levy tariffs on Moscow’s oil exports if the Russian leader does not agree to a truce within a month.
“If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault, which it might not be, but if I think it was Russia’s fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia,” Trump said.
“That would be that if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States. There will be a 25% tariff on all … on all oil, a 25 to 50-point tariff on all oil.”
The abrupt change of direction came after Putin had tried to attack the legitimacy of Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday, Trump said. Appearing on Russian television, Putin had suggested Ukraine could be placed under a temporary UN-led government to organise fresh elections before negotiating a peace deal. Trump has previously called the Ukrainian president a dictator, but on Sunday he said: “I was very angry, pissed off” when Putin “started getting into Zelenskyy’s credibility, because that’s not going in the right location, you understand?” He said “new leadership means you’re not gonna have a deal for a long time, right” and that he wanted to exert pressure on the Kremlin, which has thrown up a string of questions about a peace settlement and only agreed to limited maritime and energy ceasefires so far. Trump repeated that “if a deal isn’t made, and if I think it was Russia’s fault, I’m going to put secondary sanctions on Russia”, but then indicated he would quickly back down if there was progress on a ceasefire. “The anger dissipates quickly” if Putin “does the right thing”, Trump said, adding that he expected to talk to his Russian counterpart this week.
Warning to Zelenskyy
Trump cautioned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy against renegotiating a rare earth minerals deal, suggesting that doing so could lead to serious consequences for him.
“Zelenskyy, by the way, I see he’s trying to back out of the rare earth deal — and if he does that, he’s got some problems,” Trump said during an interview. “We made a deal on rare earth and now he is saying, well, you know, I want to renegotiate the deal. He wants to be a member of Nato, He was never going to be a member of Nato, he understands that, so, if he’s looking to renegotiate the deal, he’s got big problems.”
Acquisition of Greenland
Trump remarked on his interest in acquiring Greenland, stating, “We’ll get Greenland. Yeah, 100%,” and did not dismiss the use of military force in this pursuit, although he suggested that such an action might not be necessary.
A day after members of his administration, including vice president JD Vance, visited a US military installation there, Trump, in an interview with NBC News, said he’d “absolutely” had conversations about annexing Greenland. “We’ll get Greenland. Yeah, 100%,” Trump said, according to the news outlet.
“No, I never take military force off the table. But I think there’s a good possibility that we could do it without military force,” Trump said. “We have an obligation to protect the world. This is world peace, this is international security. And I have that obligation while I’m president. No, I don’t take anything off the table.”
‘Not joking’ about third presidential term
Trump mentioned that he is exploring the possibility of serving a third term, claiming, “There are methods which you could do it,” while acknowledging that the current constitutional barrier exists.
Trump said Sunday that “I’m not joking” about trying to serve a third term, the clearest indication he is considering ways to breach a constitutional barrier against continuing to lead the country after his second term ends at the beginning of 2029.
He elaborated later to reporters on Air Force One from Florida to Washington that “I have had more people ask me to have a third term, which in a way is a fourth term because the other election, the 2020 election was totally rigged.” Trump lost that election to Democrat Joe Biden.
Still, Trump added: “I don’t want to talk about a third term now because no matter how you look at it, we’ve got a long time to go.”
The 22nd Amendment, added to the Constitution in 1951 after President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected four times in a row, says “no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”
Praise for PM Modi and India
During a recent event, Trump praised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “very smart man” and a “great friend,” commenting on the high tariffs India imposes and expressing confidence in the future relationship between the two nations.
While answering questions during an interaction with reporters at the swearing-in ceremony of the US attorney for New Jersey, Alina Habba, Trump praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, referring to him as a “very smart man” and a “great friend.”
Trump said, “Prime Minister Modi was here just recently, and we’ve always been very good friends. India is one of the highest tariffing nations in the world… They’re very smart. He [PM Modi] is a very smart man and a great friend of mine. We had very good talks. I think it’s going to work out very well between India and our country. And I want to say you have a great Prime Minister.”
Criticism of media coverage
Trump criticised “fake news media” and the “radical left” for their coverage of a Signal chat involving discussions on military strikes in Yemen, asserting that the focus should be on the Biden administration’s inaction over the past two years. He commended senator Markwayne Mullin for defending the conversation as productive.
Mullin, in an interview with NBC News earlier in the day, spoke about the Signal chat controversy and said, “The conversation should be about why did the Biden administration not do anything in the last two years, instead of this Signal chat. There was no classified information given out, it was a thoughtful conversation, and the attack was extremely successful.”
Following this statement, Trump, in a post on TruthSocial praised the senator for his response, “A GREAT job by Senator Markwayne Mullin on beating back Kristen Welker’s, and the the Radical Left’s Witch Hunt, on the never ending Signal story. They just don’t stop – Over and over they go!”
He added, “Meet the Fake Press should instead explain how successful the attack was, and how Sleepy Joe Biden should have done it YEARS AGO. This story and narrative is so old and boring, but only used because we are having the most successful “First One Hundred Presidential Days” in the history of America, and they can’t find anything else to talk about.”
