Trump Says There’s ‘Nobody Even Shooting at Us’ After Iran Reportedly Hits U.S. Fighter Jet
President Donald Trump said “nobody” is firing on the U.S. military, even though shortly before he spoke, Iran reportedly hit a U.S. fighter jet.
On Thursday, CNN reported that a U.S. F-35 fighter jet made an emergency landing at a U.S. air base in the Middle East after being hit by what U.S. officials believe was Iranian fire. A spokesperson for U.S. Central Command said the aircraft was flying a mission over Iran when it was struck. The pilot is in stable condition, and the spokesperson said the “incident is under investigation.”
An Iranian hit on a U.S. plane would be the first since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28.
Shortly after the report was published, Trump took questions from reporters in the White House.
“Iran is a serious threat to the world, to the Middle East, and to the world,” Trump said. “And everybody agrees with me. I think virtually every country agrees with me on that. So, I wanted to put out that fire.”
The president then claimed the U.S. military has “obliterated” Iranian capabilities, so much so that Iran is unable to fire back.
“And it’s gonna be over with pretty soon,” Trump continued. “We’ve obliterated their navy. We’ve obliterated their– just about everything there is to obliterate, including leadership. The navy’s gone. Their air force is gone. Their anti-aircraft equipment is gone. We’re flying wherever we want. We have nobody even shooting at us.”
He reiterated his threat to destroy Iranian oil facilities in the Persian Gulf on Kharg Island, through which 90% of Iran’s oil exports pass.
“We can take out the island anytime we want,” Trump added. “I call it the little oil island that sits there so totally unprotected. And we’ve taken out everything but the pipes. We left the pipes because to rebuild the pipes would take years for, you know, for them to do.”
Watch above via CNN.
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