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President Donald Trump has issued an astonishing new threat against Iran, posting a mocked up picture of himself brandishing an assault rifle with the strapline: “No more Mr Nice Guy!”
“Iran can’t get their act together,” the president wrote on Truth Social early Wednesday morning. “They don’t know how to sign a nonnuclear deal. They better get smart soon!”
The threat was accompanied by a meme of Trump, stood against a Middle Eastern backdrop of explosions devastating a hillside, wearing a dark suit and sunglasses and holding the heavy-duty firearm.
Talks with Iran have reached a stalemate after eight weeks of war, with another round of peace talks recently scrapped.
President Donald Trump’s latest Truth Social meme threatens Iran in less than subtle terms ( @realDonaldTrump/Truth Social )
The president is currently hosting Britain’s King Charles III in Washington, D.C., for a four-day visit and said during an address in the East Room of the White House on Tuesday evening that the monarch “agrees” that Iran should never have a nuclear weapon, roping his majesty into the poltically-sensitive conflict.
“We’re doing a little Middle East work right now and we’re doing very well,” Trump said at the dinner.
“We have militarily defeated that particular opponent, and we’re never going to let that opponent ever – Charles agrees with me even more than I do – we’re never going to let that opponent have a nuclear weapon.”
A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace responded carefully: “The king is naturally mindful of his government’s long-standing and well-known position on the prevention of nuclear proliferation.”
Earlier Tuesday, the president wrote on his social media platform: “Iran has just informed us that they are in a ‘State of Collapse.’ They want us to ‘Open the Hormuz Strait,’ as soon as possible, as they try to figure out their leadership situation (Which I believe they will be able to do!)”
Tehran responded to the U.S.-Israeli airstrikes launched on February 28 as part of Operation Epic Fury by launching retaliatory strikes on its neighboring Gulf states that host American and Israeli military assets and then by blockading the strait, through which approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil passes, sparking a global surge in gas prices.
The U.S. military has responded by closing off Iran’s ports but the failure to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict while an uneasy ceasefire holds is proving an ongoing cause of tension around the world.
Also Tuesday, Trump lashed out at German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, posting: “The Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about!
“If Iran had a Nuclear Weapon, the whole World would be held hostage. I am doing something with Iran, right now, that other Nations, or Presidents, should have done long ago. No wonder Germany is doing so poorly, both Economically, and otherwise!”
More follows on this breaking story...