U.S. President Donald Trump issued a direct threat against Iran, delivering the clear message that any attack against U.S. interested will bring about great retaliation. During a White House meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, President Trump was asked whether he seeks to bring about a regime change in the Islamic Republic – the American leader emphasized that if Iran would act to harm U.S. interests, it will “suffer greatly.” The U.S. President said: “We’ll see what happens with Iran, if they do anything it will be a very bad mistake if they do anything. I’m hearing little stories about Iran if they do anything they will suffer greatly we’ll see what happens with Iran.”
President Trump directed a similar warning toward Iran, when asked about a reported incident in the United Arab Emirates, in which four commercial oil vessels had been sabotaged on Sunday near Fujairah port, that is located just outside the Strait of Hormuz. Authorities said in a statement that two of the vessels belong to Saudi Arabia, one to the United Arab Emirates and another to Norway. The statement further described the attack as an attempt to undermine the security of crude supplies amid rising tensions between Iran and the United States. That said, the Emirati Director of Maritime and Transport Affairs insisted that while voiced concerns are legitimate, the ongoing maritime operations remain unaffected. “The maritime operation is unaffected; the ship movement is normal and unchanged. There’s a lot of trust from ship owners in the regulations of the port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. Thus, this is a rare, one-off accident by those with bad intentions to hurdle the maritime operation, but as we can see today, their intentions have failed,” said Captain Abdulla Al Hayyas, the Director of Maritime and Transport Affairs.