DONALD Trump has again warned of the “big powerful ships” heading to Iran as the Ayatollah declares Europe’s armies “terrorists”.
The president said the size of the massive military armada sent to the Middle East last week was bigger than what was used to capture Venezuela’s tyrant Nicolas Maduro.
“We have a big fleet heading out there, bigger than we had – and still have, actually – in Venezuela,” Trump told Senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich.
He also said that Tehran was in talks with the US to make a deal.
“We’ll see if we can do something, otherwise we’ll see what happens,” Trump said.
“You know, the last time they negotiated, we had to take out their nuclear, didn’t work, you know. Then we took it out a different way, and we’ll see what happens.”
Trump has previously threatened to hit Iran hard unless the ruthless regime does “two things”.
Trump said the tyrannical rulers of the Islamic Republic had to comply with his demands, which were: “Number one, no nuclear.
“And number two, stop killing protesters” – the president added that “they are killing them by the thousands”.
He said: “We have a lot of very big, very powerful ships sailing to Iran right now, and it would be great if we didn’t have to use them.”
The colossal aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has been sent towards Iran alongside several guided-missile destroyers, Washington officials revealed.
Tensions have been building between the US and Iran after weeks of threats from Trump, as he tries to force Iran to make a deal on its nuclear program.
The Middle East had braced for US strikes after Trump promised protesters “help is on the way”.
But Washington stopped short of launching military action after Trump said he had received assurances that executions had been postponed and the killing had stopped.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi announced at the time: “There is no plan for hanging at all – hanging is out of the question.”
It comes as the Ayatollah declares Europe’s armies “terrorists”.
The speaker of Iran’s parliament said Sunday that the Islamic Republic now considers all European Union militaries to be terrorist groups.
The lashing out comes after the bloc declared the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard a terror group over its bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.
The announcement by Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf will likely be mostly symbolic.
Iran has used a 2019 law to reciprocally declare other nations’ militaries terror groups following the United States declaring the Guard a terror group that year.
However, it comes as tensions are high in the Middle East as US President Donald Trump weighs a possible military strike against Iran.
The Islamic Republic also planned a live fire military drill for Sunday and Monday in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes.
Qalibaf made the announcement as he and others in parliament wore Guard uniforms in support of the force.
The Guard, which also controls Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal and has vast economic interests in Iran, answers only to Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“By seeking to strike at the (Guard), which itself has been the greatest barrier to the spread of terrorism to Europe, Europeans have in fact shot themselves in the foot and, once again through blind obedience to the Americans, decided against the interests of their own people,” Qalibaf said.
Lawmakers at the session later chanted: “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!” at the session.
