Washington: President Donald Trump has said that US military action against Iran would help bring down global oil prices, telling supporters in Kentucky that a coordinated release of emergency crude reserves and continued pressure on Tehran would stabilise energy markets.
Speaking at an event in Hebron, Kentucky, on Wednesday (local time), Trump defended the ongoing US military campaign against Iran and said Washington would continue operations until its objectives were achieved.
The US is taking decisive action to stop the threat posed by the terrorist regime in Iran with Operation Epic Fury, Trump said, adding that the operation had been successful.
He told the audience that over the past 11 days, US forces had inflicted major damage on Iran’s military capabilities. According to Trump, “our military has virtually destroyed Iran.”
Trump said Iran’s air force was “gone, totally gone”, while the country no longer had functioning radar or anti-aircraft equipment. He also claimed Iran’s missile capability was “down 90 per cent” and its drones were “down 85 per cent”.
“We’re blowing up the factories where they’re made left and right and frankly, nobody has ever seen anything like it,” Trump said.
The President also referred to earlier US operations against Iran’s nuclear programme, saying the military had “totally obliterated Iran’s nuclear potential”.
Trump argued that the campaign was necessary to prevent future threats and insisted the United States would not stop prematurely.
“We’re not leaving until that job is finished,” he said.
Alongside the military claims, Trump said steps were being taken to protect global energy markets from disruption caused by the conflict.
He told the crowd that the International Energy Agency had agreed earlier in the day to coordinate the release of “a record 400 million barrels of oil from various national petroleum reserves around the world”.
According to Trump, the release of strategic reserves would “substantially reduce the oil prices”.
Trump also described military actions against Iranian naval assets, saying US forces had targeted ships and vessels involved in laying naval mines.
“We knocked out 58 naval ships,” he said, adding that the US had also “destroyed 31 vessels” used to lay mines in regional waters.
Trump said the campaign had progressed rapidly and claimed that Iran’s military infrastructure had been heavily degraded in a short period of time.
“Nobody has ever seen anything like what you’re witnessing now,” he said.
The President said the United States was also working to keep energy supplies moving despite the conflict.
“We’re also working to keep the oil flowing,” Trump said, while stressing that the military operation would continue until its goals were achieved.
(IANS)
