5th January, 2020
In a series of tweets Saturday, US President Donald Trump responded to Iranian threats of avenging Major General Qassem Soleimani’s assassination in a US airstrike, by warning that the US will hit 52 Iranian sites, dear to Iran.
His tweets represent a further escalation of the tension, amidst protests by anti-war groups in the US and the UK and the claim by his administration that it was committed to de-escalation.
Trump, who is never known to walk away from a fight lashed out at Tehran in the tweets, and threatened that his country has primed its arsenals on 52 Iranian targets, as a revenge for the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago. This was in 1979.
“Iran is talking very boldly about targeting certain USA assets as revenge for our ridding the world of their terrorist leader who had just killed an American, & badly wounded many others, not to mention all of the people he had killed over his lifetime, including recently hundreds of Iranian protesters.
“He was already attacking our Embassy, and preparing for additional hits in other locations. Iran has been nothing but problems for many years. Let this serve as a WARNING that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!”, Trump wrote.