Trump Says He Told Iranian Leaders ‘Go Ahead, I Understand’ When They Said They Had ‘To Take a Shot at Us’ in Retaliation

President Donald Trump claimed on Thursday that he told Iranian leaders to “go ahead” after they told him they would “like to take 14 shots” at a U.S. military base in retaliation for Trump’s bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities.

Speaking to supporters at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, Trump said, “You know, they called me to tell me they have to take a shot at us. This was Iran, very respectful. That means they respect us. Because we dropped 14 bombs, they said we’d like to take 14 shots at you. I said, ‘Go ahead, I understand.'”

He continued:

They said where they’d do it. I said good. We emptied out the fort, it was a beautiful military base in Qatar, who treated us really fantastically well, and they said, “Sir, 1 o’clock okay?” I said it was fine, we could make it later, and we had nobody but four gunners. We had four. They call them gunners and they shoot the Patriots, they shoot the missiles up, it’s hard to believe.

So all of a sudden, they said, “We’re ready,” and they were a little nervous about doing it, I want to tell you. Can you imagine? They were nice enough – this is Iran – to call me and tell me that they would like to shoot me at 14 times. So they want to shoot us and I said, “Go ahead,” and they shot 14 high-grade, very fast missiles. Every single one of them was shot down routinely by these four unbelievable gunmen, and they did their job, and that was the end of that.

After Iran launched its retaliatory missile attack on the U.S. air base in Qatar last month, Trump thanked the country for its “very weak response.”

“Iran has officially responded to our Obliteration of their Nuclear Facilities with a very weak response, which we expected, and have very effectively countered,” wrote Trump. “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.”

He continued, “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!”

Watch above via Fox News.