Trump Thanks Iran For ‘Very Weak Response’ to His Bombing Their Nuclear Sites
President Donald Trump thanked Iran on Monday for “giving us early notice” of the missile attack on the U.S. air base in Qatar, while boasting of the “very weak response” to his bombing of Iranian nuclear sites on Saturday.
“Iran has officially responded to our Obliteration of their Nuclear Facilities with a very weak response, which we expected, and have very effectively countered. There have been 14 missiles fired — 13 were knocked down, and 1 was “set free,” because it was headed in a nonthreatening direction,” Trump wrote, adding:
I am pleased to report that NO Americans were harmed, and hardly any damage was done. Most importantly, they’ve gotten it all out of their “system,” and there will, hopefully, be no further HATE. I want to thank Iran for giving us early notice, which made it possible for no lives to be lost, and nobody to be injured. Perhaps Iran can now proceed to Peace and Harmony in the Region, and I will enthusiastically encourage Israel to do the same. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Trump followed up that post with another minutes later, “I’d like to thank the Highly Respected Emir of Qatar for all that he has done in seeking Peace for the Region. Regarding the attack today at the American Base in Qatar, I am pleased to report that, in addition to no Americans being killed or wounded, very importantly, there have also been no Qataris killed or wounded. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Axios’s Barak Ravid explained in the moments after Iranian missiles were intercepted over Qatar by U.S. defense systems that the attack had been pre-planned with both Qatari and U.S. knowledge. “Well, according to a source with direct knowledge, the Iranians coordinated this attack with the Qataris, and with the knowledge of the Trump administration,” Ravid told Anderson Cooper, adding:
And I think one of the evidence [sic] for that is that all those press statements were prepared in advance. The Qataris, five minutes after the rockets started flying, issued a 500-word statement that was already just waiting to be sent. And as far as I understand from my sources, nobody was surprised by this attack. And it really looks like a coordinated effort to, on the one hand, allow Iran to retaliate, but on the other hand, try to close this incident and not allow it to escalate even further.
Iran targeted the Al Udeid air base, the largest U.S. base in the Middle East, with a missile barrage of the same number of missiles the U.S. dropped on nuclear sites in Iran, symbolically suggesting the retaliation was over.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
