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| Trump says US Navy could escort tankers, Iran aimed to strike first |
US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office ** German Foreign Minister Merz expressed his support for the
American-Israeli war on Iran, but... while Trump threatens to cut ties
with Spain for refusing to go to war on Iran.
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Trump says US Navy could escort tankers, Iran aimed to strike first
AFP
04/03/2026
(See translation in Arabic section)
Sydney-Middle East Times Int'l: President Donald Trump said Tuesday the US Navy was ready to escort oil tankers through a crucial Gulf shipping route, as he justified his war on Iran by saying he believed Tehran was about to strike first.
Trump has given often conflicting explanations for the joint US-Israeli attack on Iran, while the president who once campaigned to end to America's Middle Eastern wars has set out no firm endgame.
The attacks and Iran's fiery response have engulfed the Middle East -- while also causing global economic turmoil as shipping avoids the Strait of Hormuz near Iran, one of the world's most vital shipping lanes.
Trump, whose own boasts of economic revival are now also under threat ahead of midterm elections later this year, moved to calm the jitters by saying US warships could help.
"If necessary, the United States Navy will begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, as soon as possible," Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
The US president also ordered Washington to provide insurance for commercial shipping. US stocks cut their losses after the announcement, although crude prices continued to rise.
- 'Knocked out' -
With questions swirling about Trump's justifications for his country's biggest Middle Eastern entanglement for decades, the US leader earlier denied Israel had forced him into launching the strikes.
Trump's comments appeared to contradict Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said on Monday that Washington only acted after learning that ally Israel was going to strike.
"I think they (Iran) were going to attack first. And I didn't want that to happen," Trump said as he hosted German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the Oval Office.
"So, if anything, I might have forced Israel's hand."
Fielding questions for the first time in public since launching the operation Saturday, Trump also said the US-Israel strikes had largely destroyed Iran's military.
"Just about everything's been knocked out," Trump said, adding that Iran's navy, air force and radar systems had all been taken out of action.
Trump however offered no firm plan for Iran's future leadership, saying that "most of the people we had in mind are dead."
He said that the "worst case" was that a replacement for Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in strikes on Saturday, could be just as bad.
- 'Weeks from a weapon' -
The US leader's stance on "regime change" has been unclear, and toppling the Islamic republic was not among the four key goals for the operation that he gave on Monday.
One of those key objectives was stopping Iran's nuclear program, and US officials sought to back up Trump's case by saying Tuesday that Iran had been stringing Washington along in talks prior to the war.
"They basically could have been days or weeks away from a weapon," one senior administration official told reporters on a call.
Trump meanwhile said it was "too late" for Iran to seek talks.
And the US officials confirmed that negotiator Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner had had no back-channel contact with the Iranians since Saturday's strikes.
Germany's Merz meanwhile voiced support Tuesday for the US-Israeli war on Iran but said he hoped it would end soon "as soon as possible," saying it was "damaging our economies."
While praising Merz, Trump had harsh words for European allies Britain and Spain.
"This is not Winston Churchill that we're dealing with," Trump said of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer who initially refused to let US forces use UK bases to attack Iran, before relenting.
Trump also threatened to cut off trade with "terrible" Spain, whose left-wing government also refused the use of its bases.
Trump threatens Spain ties over Iran war refusal
AFP
US President Donald Trump threatened Tuesday to sever all trade with Spain after it refused to let US planes use its bases to attack Iran, while also lashing out at Britain for not cooperating more.
Spain's left-wing government led by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, one of Europe's most defiant leaders against Trump, has said that bases long used by US forces could only be allowed for activities consistent with the United Nations Charter.
"Spain has been terrible," Trump told reporters as he met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House.
He also pointed to Sanchez's refusal to join NATO allies in a pledge to boost defense spending to five percent of GDP, a level pushed by Trump who says the United States bears too much of a burden.
"So we're going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don't want anything to do with Spain," Trump said, adding that he had asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to "cut off all dealings with Spain."
It remains unclear what power Trump would have to "end" trade with Spain, after the Supreme Court struck down his use of emergency powers to impose arbitrary tariffs.
Musing on the legalities, the 79-year-old property tycoon turned president said, "I could tomorrow stop -- or today, even better -- stop everything having to do with Spain, all business."
"I have the right to... do anything I want with it," he said.
The Spanish government quickly responded that it had a "mutually beneficial" trading relationship with the United States and other countries.
"If the US administration wishes to review this relationship, it must do so while respecting the autonomy of private companies, international law and bilateral agreements between the European Union and the US," it said.
"Our country has the necessary resources to contain possible impacts, help sectors that may be affected, and diversify supply chains."
Sanchez has called for dialogue to end the war on Iran, saying that "One can oppose a hateful regime and at the same time oppose an unjustified and dangerous military intervention."
Sanchez is also an outspoken critic of Israel, accusing it of carrying out genocide in its massive military operation in Gaza, an assertion Israel denies.
US forces use the Rota naval base and Moron air base in Spain. During the 2003 Iraq invasion, Spain, then under conservative prime minister Jose Maria Aznar, staunchly backed the United States.
- 'Not happy' with Britain -
Britain, a steadfast ally of the United States throughout the two World Wars and in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, also decided not to join the assault on Iran.
"I'm not happy with the UK," Trump said, as he added of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer: "This is not Winston Churchill that we're dealing with."
Starmer said US fighter jets could use two UK air bases -- one in Gloucestershire in western England and the other at the joint UK-US Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean -- for a "specific and limited defensive purpose."
But Starmer said the United States was not authorized to use UK bases in Cyprus, one of which was struck by an Iranian-made drone.
"It's taken three, four days for us to work out where we can land," Trump said in apparent reference to Diego Garcia. "There would have been much more convenient landing there, as opposed to flying many extra hours."
Trump, after a series of flip-flops, has denounced Starmer for agreeing to return the Chagos Islands, home to the Diego Garcia base and whose people were expelled by Britain, to Mauritius, and instead to lease the base.
"I will say the UK has been very, very uncooperative with that stupid island that they have," Trump said. |
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