The President of the United States, Donald Trump, said this Thursday that the Iranian regime "is falling apart," while arguing that its economy is devastated, that its Armed Forces have been "annihilated," and that Washington maintains "total control" over the Strait of Hormuz, all of this without registering any U.S. military casualties during the last five months.
In a telephone interview with the American conservative chain Salem News Channel, the occupant of the White House stressed that he is willing to resort again to military force if he sees that the situation in the region becomes unfavorable, after emphasizing that the United States has been fighting "at a fairly fast pace" for three weeks.
"They have 301% inflation. Their economy has disappeared. They don't pay their soldiers. Their Army has been annihilated. Their Navy has disappeared. Their Air Force has disappeared. Their air defense has disappeared and they have lost the Strait of Hormuz," Trump listed, adding that the United States is extracting from the strategic passage "more oil than before the war began."
The president also defended the U.S. offensive in the Middle East, warning that the Islamist threat—which he placed above communism as the biggest danger today—would not be limited to Israel or its immediate surroundings, but could extend to Europe and to U.S. cities such as Los Angeles or San Diego, while alerting that Iran has missiles with enough range to strike European territory.
Espionage with China and the case of Jimmy Lai
In another matter, while addressing the technological and intelligence struggle with Beijing—stemming from the scandal affecting the now former chief executive officer of Nvidia, Jensen Huang, over his ties to a purported Chinese spy, an episode that Trump has labeled "sad"—the president acknowledged that both powers carry out reciprocal espionage activities.
"Someone said: 'Oh, they're tapping our phones.' I said: 'That's right. We tap their phones too,'" Trump said, stressing that his Administration maintains close surveillance of China after insisting that control of 'superintelligence' (SI)—the term with which his administration refers to artificial intelligence (AI)—will be key to defining the balance of power in the world.
With a view to his next meeting with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, Trump explained that he has already discussed in depth with the Asian leader the situation of the pro-democracy media magnate in Hong Kong Jimmy Lai, who has been jailed by the Chinese authorities. Although he said he had managed to secure the release of other prisoners in previous dealings, he pointed out that Xi maintains a “great animosity” toward Lai for his role in the Hong Kong protests, which complicates any agreement on his release.
Impeachment threats and recourse to the veto
On the domestic front, following the recent midterm legislative elections in which the Democratic Party regained the majority in both chambers of Congress, Trump downplayed any possible initiatives for impeachment ('impeachment') against his Government, assuring that the Democrats “previously had nothing and now they have even less” and citing the industrial dynamism and job creation in the country.
However, the president warned that, during the next two years of the legislative term, he will intensively resort to the presidential veto power to block the opposition’s proposals, while urging Congress to urgently approve an additional allocation of $350 billion (about €315 billion) to strengthen the financing of the Armed Forces.