Speaking alongside Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump threatens to \u2018knock\u2019 down Iran\u2019s attempts to rebuild its nuclear capabilities.<\/p>\n
United States President Donald Trump has suggested that Washington would consider further military action against Iran if Tehran rebuilds its nuclear programme or missile capacity.<\/p>\n
Speaking from Florida on Monday, Trump refused to rule out a follow-up attack after US air strikes<\/a> in June damaged three Iranian nuclear facilities.<\/p>\n Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n \u201cNow I hear that Iran is trying to build up again, and if they are, we\u2019re going to have to knock them down,\u201d Trump told reporters. \u201cWe\u2019ll knock them down. We\u2019ll knock the hell out of them. But hopefully that\u2019s not happening.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump issued his threat as he welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.<\/p>\n Trump said the US and Israel have been \u201cextremely victorious\u201d against their enemies, referring to the wars in Gaza and Lebanon as well as June\u2019s strikes against Iran.<\/p>\n When asked whether the US would back an Israeli attack targeting Iran\u2019s missile programme<\/a>, Trump said, \u201cIf they will continue with the missiles, yes. The nuclear? Fast. OK? One will be: Yes, absolutely. The other is: We\u2019ll do it immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n Another round of strikes against Iran would likely stir opposition in the US, including from segments of Trump\u2019s own base of support.<\/p>\n Trump has repeatedly said the June strikes \u201cobliterated\u201d Iran\u2019s nuclear programme, and he has raised the spectre of the country acquiring a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n But Iran has denied any such ambitions and said its nuclear programme is solely for the purposes of generating energy for civilian use.<\/p>\n Still, in Monday\u2019s remarks, Trump discussed Iran\u2019s nuclear capabilities in the same breath as its military ones.<\/p>\n Analysts point out that Israeli officials and their US allies have recently been drumming up concern about Iran\u2019s missiles.<\/p>\n During the conflict in June, sometimes referred to as the 12-day war, Tehran fired hundreds of missiles in response to an Israeli attack that killed the country\u2019s top generals, several nuclear scientists and hundreds of civilians.<\/p>\n US Senator Lindsey Graham, an Iran hawk who is close to Trump, visited Israel this month and repeated the Netanyahu government\u2019s talking points about the dangers of Iran\u2019s long-range missiles. He warned that Iran is producing them \u201cin very high numbers\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe cannot allow Iran to produce ballistic missiles because they could overwhelm the Iron Dome,\u201d he told The Jerusalem Post, referring to Israel\u2019s air defence system. \u201cIt\u2019s a major threat.\u201d<\/p>\n Iran has ruled out negotiating over its missile programme, which is at the core of its defence strategy.<\/p>\n On Monday, Trump said Iran should \u201cmake a deal\u201d with the US.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they want to make a deal, that\u2019s much smarter,\u201d Trump said. \u201cYou know, they could have made a deal the last time before we went through a big attack on them, and they decided not to make the deal. They wish they made that deal.\u201d<\/p>\n Monday\u2019s sabre-rattling comes weeks after the Trump administration released a national security strategy<\/a> that called for the US to shift its foreign policy resources away from the Middle East and instead focus on the Western Hemisphere.<\/p>\n But advocates of the strategy warn that another episode of attacking Iran may escalate into a longer, broader war.<\/p>\n