Trump Criticizes UK, France Over Strait of Hormuz Coalition Reluctance

Trump, while in a Lunch with the Trump Kennedy Center Board Members, said that the US military is the "strongest in the world, and do not need anyone."

He said, "I have spoken to him. On a scale of 0 to 10, he's been an eight. Not perfect, but it's France... I think he's going to help. I spoke to him yesterday. I don't do a hard sell on them because my attitude is that we don't need anybody. We're the strongest nation in the world. We have the strongest military by far in the world."

French President Emmanuel Macron earlier spoke with Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian, calling on him to put an end to attacks by Iran against the other countries in the West Asia region, whether directly or through proxies.

"I have just spoken with Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian. I called on him to put an immediate end to the unacceptable attacks Iran is carrying out against countries in the region, whether directly or through proxies, including in Lebanon and Iraq. I reminded him that France is acting within a strictly defensive framework aimed at protecting its interests, its regional partners, and freedom of navigation, and that it is unacceptable for our country to be targeted," Macron posted on X.

Trump had said that he is "not happy with the UK", and that, "I think they'll be involved, maybe, but they should be involved enthusiastically. We've been protecting these countries for years with NATO, because NATO is us. You can ask Putin. Putin fears us. He has no fear of Europe whatsoever. He fears the United States of America and the military that I built during my first term..."

On US Operations in Iran, Trump said, "We have it (Strait of Hormuz) in very good shape. We've already taken care of Iran, but now, because of the fact that literally a single terrorist can shoot a missile, and it's fairly close range, because it is a tight area, which is one of the reasons they've always used that as a weapon. Iran has always used that as an economic weapon, and it's not going to be able to be used very long. Numerous countries have told me they're on the way. Some are very enthusiastic about it, and some are countries that we've helped for many, many years."

Trump also said that they have destroyed Kharg Island.

He said, "We attacked Kharg Island and knocked it. We destroyed everything on the island except for the area where the oil is. We left the pipes. We didn't want to do that, but we will do that... But for purposes of someday rebuilding that country, I guess we did the right thing... We are aggressively dismantling Iran's defence industrial base, and its ability to rebuild its missiles and drone capability is getting close to zero. We're hammering their capacity to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz with more than 30 mine-laying ships destroyed... We've hit all 30 of their ships and destroyed them. They're all at the bottom of the sea."

Trump also said that they have achieved hitting over 7,000 targets till date in Iran.

He said, "Since the beginning of the conflict, we've struck more than 7,000 targets across Iran, and these have been mostly commercial and military targets. We've achieved a 90 per cent reduction in their ballistic missile launches and a 95 per cent reduction in drone attacks. We've also attacked the manufacturing plants, the places where they manufacture the missiles and the drones, and that's going on today. We just hit three of them today. More than 100 Iranian naval vessels have been sunk or destroyed over the last week and a half. Additional strikes continue to launch from all directions every single hour."

He further said, "Our powerful military campaign to end the threats posed by the Iranian regime continued in full force over the past few days. They have been literally obliterated. The Air Force is gone. The Navy is gone. Many, many ships have been sunk. They're warfighting ships, anti-aircraft is decimated, their radar is gone, and their leaders are gone. Other than that, they're doing quite well. They've been a terror for 47 years, and now, the world, through the United States, with the help of Israel, is doing what should have been done many years ago."

Earlier, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also gaggled with journalists briefly in the driveway.

Asked about President Trump's planned visit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this month, Leavitt said, "it is a leader-to-leader conversation at this point. The president looks forward to visiting China. The dates may be moved. As commander in chief, it's his number one priority right now to ensure the continued success of this operation, Epic Fury. So we will keep you updated on the dates soon."

Leavitt said that Trump "wished the UK had stepped up sooner and quicker" with regards to his call for England to help open the Strait of Hormuz.

"But he continues to speak with our allies in Europe and is calling on them for support, just as he did when he called on them to step up with respect to their defense spending in NATO. He's calling them to do more here," she added.

The press secretary deferred a question about deploying US Marines to the region to the Pentagon.

- ANI