U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Iran, floated the idea of deporting U.S. citizens convicted of crimes and said Palestinians may have no alternative but to leave Gaza in wide-ranging comments reporters at the White House on Tuesday.
On Iran, Trump said he’s told his advisers to obliterate that country if it assassinates him.
“If they did that, they would be obliterated,” he said while signing an executive order calling for the U.S. government to impose maximum pressure on Tehran. “There won’t be anything left.”
The Justice Department filed federal charges in November over an alleged Iranian plot to kill Trump before the presidential election. The department alleged Iranian officials had instructed Farhad Shakeri, 51, in September to focus on surveilling and ultimately assassinating Trump. Shakeri is still at large in Iran.
On the issue of U.S. prisoners, Trump said he is studying the legality of sending dangerous offenders to prisons in other countries.
“If we had the legal right to do it, I’d do it in a heartbeat,” he said. “I don’t know that we do. We’re looking at it right now.”
Trump didn’t say which countries might take U.S. prisoners.
But his comments come after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said El Salvador had offered to jail some violent American criminals and that the offer was “very generous” — even tough it raised some legal concerns.
‘Demolition site’
On Gaza, Trump reiterated Tuesday his call for Palestinians to relocate from the enclave, which he described as a “demolition site” following Israel’s war with Hamas militants.
He said there was no alternative for Palestinians but no leave Gaza while it’s being rebuilt and called on Jordan and Egypt to take them in.
“If we could find the right piece of land, or numerous pieces of land, and build them some really nice places with plenty of money in the area, that’s for sure. I think that would be a lot better than going back to Gaza,” he said.
“I don’t know how they could want to stay,” Trump said when asked about the reaction of Palestinian and Arab leaders to his proposal.
Trump’s remarks echo the wishes of Israel’s far right and contradicts former president Joe Biden’s commitment against mass displacement of Palestinians.
Arab states and the Palestinian Authority have rejected the idea, which some human rights advocates have likened to ethnic cleansing.
Trump comment’s came shortly before he welcome Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House for discussion on the future of the Gaza ceasefire, which paused the nearly 16 months-long conflict.