“I can’t tell you that because look, you know, you’re asking, where are you going to bomb?” President Donald Trump said, when Time magazine pressed him on where any new strikes on Iran might fall. He would not say more.
The interview, conducted on Monday and published Thursday, came as thousands of troops were already at sea. A U.S. official said the military is sending roughly 9,000 of them to the Middle East aboard a group of ships. More than 7,000 are sailors and 2,000 are Marines.
The group includes the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group, which deployed recently with the cruiser USS Chosin. It also includes the USS Makin Island amphibious readiness group, with the landing ships USS John P. Murtha and USS Anchorage. The official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations, said three carriers could be in the region as early as the end of October.
Counting the forces already there, the move would push the U.S. naval presence past 20,000 sailors and Marines and hundreds of aircraft. That is unusually high. The Navy last had three carrier strike groups in the Middle East in April, the first time since 2003.
Ships already on station
The carriers USS George H.W. Bush and USS George Washington are there now, along with the USS Boxer amphibious readiness group. The Washington normally sails in the Pacific. It was moved to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln, whose crew had spent more than 260 days straight at sea.
What Trump said
In the Time interview Trump called it “possible” that he will step up attacks on Iran after the November 3 elections in the United States. He said he turned down Iran’s latest ceasefire proposal because “things that I wouldn’t have approved a year ago I wouldn’t have today.” Iran had offered to “open up” the Strait of Hormuz, the key energy shipping corridor. Trump said the proposal as a whole was “not good enough.”
Asked whether the war, which is increasingly unpopular, could hurt Republicans in November, he first answered, “It’s possible.” Then he added: “It should help, because Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.” He said “100% of the people” oppose Iran having nuclear attack capabilities, “including worldwide.” And his conclusion: “So, when you say it that way, It would help. If you don’t say that, it could hurt.”
On Thursday Trump also said early indications suggest Iran is linked to the co-pilot who stabbed his captain and tried to crash an Israel-bound flight on Wednesday.
