US president Donald Trump said on Thursday, January 30th that he hopes military action against Iran can be avoided, even as tensions rise and Tehran threatens to strike American bases and aircraft carriers in the region. Speaking to reporters, Trump stressed that dialogue remains possible and that force is not his preferred outcome. Asked if he would have talks with Iran, he said
I have had and I am planning on it…. We have a group headed out to a place called Iran, and hopefully we won’t have to use it,
he added, referring to the U.S. military presence being deployed to the region.”
The comments come after Trump warned earlier this week that time was “running out” for Tehran, as Washington sent a large naval fleet to the Middle East.
An Iranian military spokesman said American aircraft carriers and bases in the Gulf region were within missile range and warned that any U.S. strike would not be a limited operation. According to Brigadier General Mohammad Akraminia on state television
It will certainly not unfold the way Trump imagines.
Regional concerns are growing, with a Gulf official warning that a U.S.-Iran conflict would plunge the region into chaos and trigger sharp rises in oil and gas prices, harming both regional and global economies.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged renewed nuclear negotiations to prevent a crisis with “devastating consequences in the region.” Meanwhile, the European Union has increased pressure on Tehran by designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organisation over its violent crackdown on mass protests.
