Trump Calls for Iran's ‘Unconditional Surrender' and Threatens Its Supreme Leader
President Trump declared on Tuesday that 'we now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran' and called for Iran's 'unconditional surrender' amid mounting evidence that the United States was considering joining Israel's bombing campaign against the country.
Mr. Trump made his statements on his social media site before he met with his national security team for a little more than an hour on Tuesday afternoon. But even before they met, there were signs that the Pentagon, anticipating that orders for a strike might be forthcoming, sent about three dozen refueling aircraft to Europe that could be used to assist fighter jets protecting American bases and personnel in the Middle East.
The aircraft would also be capable of refueling B-2 bombers flown out of the United States on their way to targets in Iran, presumably starting with Fordo, the under-the-mountain nuclear enrichment center that Iran built around 15 years ago to withstand the heaviest strikes.
Mr. Trump's increasingly martial tone — a sharp reversal from his announced confidence two weeks ago that a nuclear deal with Iran was easily within reach — came only hours after he cut short his attendance at the Group of 7 summit in Alberta, Canada, saying he needed to return to Washington to deal with the situation in the Middle East.
His immediate decision is whether to deploy America's largest conventional weapon — the 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator — to attack Fordo, Iran's deepest nuclear enrichment site.
While Mr. Trump suggested that the United States had control of Iran's skies, the only visible combatant has been Israel, which has been using American-made fighter jets. Israeli officials have said that they have been able to destroy much of Iran's air defenses.
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