US President Donald Trump claimed that Iran had positioned around 1,200 missiles aimed at several Middle Eastern countries as tensions escalate following fresh threats from Iran’s newly appointed supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei.Speaking in an interview on Fox’s The Brian Kilmeade Show, Trump alleged that Tehran had been preparing to dominate the region militarily.“Iran had thousands of missiles pointed at all these Middle Eastern countries for the last four months,” he said.“They were going to take over the Middle East, they were going to control it all, UAE, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia,” Trump said, adding that Iran had “1,200 missiles pointed at these countries.”
The remarks came shortly after Khamenei issued a statement on Thursday signalling that Iran would not back down from the ongoing conflict with the United States and Israel.“We will not refrain from avenging the blood of your martyrs,” Khamenei said in a message addressed to the Iranian nation.The statement followed reports that Khamenei had been injured and possibly left in a coma after US-Israeli strikes on a compound in Tehran on February 28 that killed his father.Trump also suggested that Khamenei may still be alive despite speculation over his condition.“I think he probably is. I think he is damaged, but I think he’s probably alive in some form, you know,” Trump told Brian Kilmeade in an interview scheduled to air Friday at 10.06 am (local time).
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Addressing concerns about maritime security in the region, Trump said vessels should continue to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping route.“Go through the strait of Hormuz and show some guts,” he said, adding, “There’s nothing to be afraid of. They have no Navy and we sunk all their ships.”His comments come amid heightened tensions in the region following recent military exchanges and growing uncertainty over Iran’s leadership after the strikes.
