Donald Trump to the Iranian government: You must stop supporting terrorism and proxy wars
Donald Trump proposed a new condition for an agreement with Iran, telling them that they must stop supporting terrorism and proxy wars.
US President Donald Trump, while expressing his desire to reach an agreement with Iran, said at a meeting with leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council: "The Gulf countries are at the forefront of creating a region that is stable, peaceful, and prosperous. I have witnessed a remarkable unity and friendship among you. The whole world is watching West Asia, and many are looking at it with envy. If we can only stop the evil influence of a small group of bad actors, there are tremendous opportunities for this region."
Trump, while criticizing the Joe Biden administration, added: "The Biden administration has caused destruction and chaos by incompetence, by empowering Iran and its proxies and pouring billions of dollars into them. It was really stupid and I couldn't believe it. But those days are over and the people in this room know what I stand for, it has never wavered. We stand with our friends and allies and we will confront the hostility that threatens us all."
He also referred to the indirect negotiations between Tehran and Washington over the nuclear program, which have gone through four rounds of negotiations so far, and continued: "I want to reach an agreement with Iran. I want to do something if possible, but for this to work, Iran must stop supporting terrorism and bloody proxy wars, and most importantly, stop forever and in a verified manner, trying to obtain a nuclear weapon. They cannot have a nuclear weapon. I don't think anyone in this group would say that they can. So we ask all countries to support the sanctions that we have imposed on Iran."
As sanctions against the Iranian government are being implemented by the Trump administration, Trump referred to this issue and addressed the governments, adding: "I strongly urge all countries to help us fully implement the sanctions that we have recently imposed on Iran. We have also imposed secondary sanctions that in some cases have a worse impact."
While defending the “maximum pressure campaign” against Iran, he claimed: “When I left office (as US president), Iran had no money; they were bankrupt. They had no money for Hamas and Hezbollah, there was no attack, no thought of an attack. If I were president, there would be no attack.”
Trump also referred to the country's military airstrike campaign against Yemen, saying: "We recently carried out strikes against over 1,100 targets associated with the Houthis (Yemeni Ansarullah). They agreed last week to stop their attacks and no longer want to attack our commercial ships. They said enough is enough."
He also referred to America's defense capabilities in his speech, adding: "We recently allocated a trillion dollars in budget to the military sector, which is the largest budget allocation we have ever allocated. America is very strong right now. We have been in office for 100 days, and in this short time, we have done things that many others have not been able to do in four years."
After talking about the situation in Gaza and Syria, Trump also praised the performance of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries in the final part of his speech, saying: "The whole world is talking about your performance and the world is jealous of you. Together, we will shape a region that will form a thriving commercial, diplomatic and cultural corridor at the geographic center of the world. I look forward to working with you."
