He promised to target Iranian cultural sites on Sunday night after Iran was expected to order the US to remove its troops from the country. His intervention is the latest is a worrying escalation of aggression shown between Washington and Tehran. Although consistently aggressive with one another, Trump made waves across the globe after ordering the killing of op Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani on Friday.
ccording to CNN, Trump made the comments while on Air Force One, on a return flight to Washington from Florida.
Trump reportedly said: “They’re allowed to kill our people, they’re allowed to torture and maim our people, they’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people, and we’re not allowed to touch their cultural sites?
“It doesn’t work that way.”
He was quizzed about whether he thought Iran would strike back.
However, he said “if it happens, it happens”.
He added: “If they do anything there will be major retaliation.”
Reports suggest that two senior US officials said there was heavy opposition to Trump’s move to attack Iran.
One of the officials told CNN: “Nothing rallies people like the deliberate destruction of beloved cultural sites.
JUST IN: World War 3 fears: Multiple rockets land near US Embassy in Baghdad
The other added: “Consistent with laws and norms of armed conflict, we would respect Iranian culture.”
It comes after multiple rockets landed near the US Embassy in Baghdad, sparking a response from US President Donald Trump.
Two Katyusha rockets fell on Sunday inside the Iraqi capital Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone.
The Green Zone houses government buildings and foreign missions, police sources claimed.
Sirens were being sounded and there were no immediate reports of casualties, the sources added.