US President Donald Trump lashed out at a number of countries – including Australia – today at a press conference as his deadline for Iran to reach a deal approaches.
The president continued to grumble about NATO allies’ refusal to get involved in reopening the Strait of Hormuz and their hesitance to assist US offensive operations against Iran.
As he wrapped up his lengthy news conference, he also fumed about the lack of support from Pacific allies.
"NATO's a paper tiger. NATO is us. And when we needed them, we didn't need them, by the way.
"We didn't need them, obviously, because they haven't helped at all, Just the opposite.They've actually gone out of their way not to help. They didn't even want to give us landing strips. Think of it. And it's not just NATO.
"You know who else didn't help us? South Korea didn't help us. You know who else didn't help us? Australia didn't help us. You know who else didn't help us? Japan."
He continued: "We’ve got 50,000 soldiers in Japan to protect them from North Korea. We have 45,000 soldiers in South Korea to protect us from Kim Jong Un, who I get along with very well."
'We will not be deploying troops'
Australian Attorney-General Michelle Rowland would not be drawn on Trump's singling out of Australia.
"Australia has taken a position, which is that we are not going to be participating in any offensive way in this conflict," she told reporters in Canberra.
"We will not be deploying troops, but I will reiterate that the Australia-US alliance remains fundamental and we continue to call for a de-escalation of this conflict.
"People in Australia and around the world are being impacted by events which they did not cause."
Trump says it would take four hours to destroy Iran’s bridges and power plants
Earlier in the press conference, Trump said it would take four hours to destroy Iran's bridges and power plants.
The president described the consequences that Iran would face if it didn’t reach a deal with the US by Trump’s 8pm Tuesday (12pm Wednesday NZ time) deadline.
“We have a plan, because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night,” Trump said.
Power plants in Iran, he continued, would be “burning, exploding and never to be used again”.
Trump refused to say whether any civilian targets would be off limits in the US response.
Trump dismisses that his threatened attacks on Iran’s infrastructure would be war crimes
Trump said he’s “not at all” concerned about committing war crimes as he continues to threaten the destruction of Iran’s bridges and power plants if they don’t meet the deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
“I hope I don’t have to do it,” Trump added.
Earlier today, Iran rejected a 45-day ceasefire proposal and said it wants a permanent end to the conflict.
“We only accept an end of the war with guarantees that we won’t be attacked again,” Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, head of the Iranian diplomatic mission in Cairo, told The Associated Press.
Israel and the United States carried out a wave of attacks on Iran on Monday, killing more than 25 people. Iran responded with missile fire on Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbors.
- Additional reporting by AAP
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