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Trump threatens ‘to knock out’ all Iranian bridges ‘unless they negotiate,’ says he’s ‘saving energy targets for last’

US President Donald Trump says he will authorize the bombing of Iran’s bridges and power bridges next week if Iran doesn’t come to the table and negotiate with the US.

“We’re going to hit them very hard tonight. We’re going to hit them very hard tomorrow night. We’re going to hit them very hard the night after, and then next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants. Next week comes the bridges. We’re going to knock out all their power plants. We’re going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate,” Trump says in an interview with Fox News.

“I’ll save the energy targets for last, but ultimately we’ll hit energy targets,” he adds.

Trump has threatened numerous times to bomb Iranian energy sites only to hold off in the end, apparently due to concerns that doing so would result in Iran becoming a failed state — a scenario the US is looking to avoid.

Listing Trump’s war aims as preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, keeping the Strait of Hormuz open and to degrade Iran’s military capabilities, the Fox interviewer asks if they can be accomplished through an air campaign alone.

Trump claims his war aims have actually already been achieved even though he has not secured Iran’s stockpiles of enriched uranium and traffic through Hormuz is only at 10% of prewar levels.

“It’s open if people want to go through it,” Trump says.

As for Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, Trump again downplays the importance of securing it, saying the US is surveilling Iran’s nuclear sites.

Asked whether the US is capable of striking the nuclear site deep underground at Pickaxe Mountain, Trump responds, “Nobody knows about Pickaxe,” before insisting the US is watching that site too and could act if needed.

Trump gives a similar answer regarding the Taleghan facility outside Tehran, which satellite imagery suggests Iran has started repairing since it was struck during the war. “We can hit that one very easily,” the president claims.

Asked if he’s negotiating with the right people in Iran, Trump says he doesn’t want to negotiate anymore because Iran purportedly reneged on a deal over the weekend.

But seconds later, he says his aides have been talking to Iranian negotiators in just the past hour.

Asked what message the US passed along to Iran, Trump says, “You better make a deal. You’re not going to have anybody left. We’re being very careful with the civilian population, but you better make a deal [or] you’re not going to have anything left.”