JERUSALEM, Israel – As the war in Iran moves into day 18, opening the Strait of Hormuz remains a top issue. President Trump is not happy with the lack of help from other countries.
Calling Iran a “paper tiger,” the president asserts that 7,000 Iranian targets have been hit so far, reducing the regime’s missile capacity by 90 percent.
“They have been literally obliterated,” he stated. “The air force is gone. The navy is gone.”
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Yet opening the Strait of Hormuz to allow oil to flow remains a problem. Trump is rallying other countries to help, but he maintains that the response is split, and the European Union is uninterested.
“Some are very enthusiastic, and some are less than enthusiastic, and I assume some will not do it. I think we have one or two that will not do it that we’ve been protecting for about forty years.”
The president declined to name the countries. However, he indicated that about seven are on board so far, adding that the U.S. could go it alone if needed.
“It’s always bothering me that we protect them. We don’t need ’em,” he said.
When asked by reporters with whom he’s dealing in Iran, the president replied that he wasn’t sure. “All of their leaders are dead, as far as we know. We don’t know who we’re dealing with,” he observed.
Both the U.S. and Israel are still not certain about the status of Iran’s new supreme leader.
The president commented, “A lot of people are saying he’s badly disfigured. Some people are saying he lost his leg. Other people are saying he’s dead.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar asked on Fox News, “Where is Mojtaba? They elected a leader. He’s not there. You can hide, but you have to show up. You can have video to prove you are alive.”
Israel also announced on Tuesday that it had killed the leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Basij force, Gholamreza Soleimani. The IDF says he was killed in a strike on Monday.
In Lebanon, it’s raining leaflets, warning residents in the southern section to evacuate as the Israel Defense Forces plan a massive ground invasion, saying it could be “like Gaza.”
As for American troops, CENTCOM is reporting that about 200 soldiers have been wounded since the war began.
CBN News spoke with a pastor in Germany who once served with Hezbollah. He has connections in Iran and says that failure by the U.S. and Israel to force regime change could have catastrophic implications.
Pastor Afshin Javid insisted, “If they do not change this government, it will have to answer to history for the massacre that is about to happen, that would be Holocaust-like. If the government (is) not changed, the world, the United Nations, and especially Europe, has to prepare itself (for) millions and millions of refugees that will flood the nation.”
The Wall Street Journal reports the crackdown has already begun as security forces, battered by US attacks, ride through the streets at night, brandishing their weapons and threatening to arrest or kill so-called “collaborators.” At least 500 people have been arrested since the start of the war.
And in Israel, the daily Iranian missile strikes continue, with large debris landing Monday on the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokesman Oren Marmorstein announced, “An Iranian ballistic missile hit just a few meters next to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.” He added, The Iranian regime is targeting the Holy Sites of Jerusalem.
And Israel is feeling the brunt of the war in more than one way. Here in Jerusalem’s Old City, many shops have been shuttered, access is largely restricted to residents, and the Western Wall has shut down. Israel’s tourism industry is once again getting hammered.
