President Trump confirmed Wednesday he would be willing to wipe out the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as he did to the Islamic State in 2019 if necessary.
Mr. Trump during an interview on Fox Business was asked about how he concluded that he could not negotiate with the IRGC during previous talks with Iran and whether that meant that he might wipe them out like he did to ISIS and its self-styled caliphate in 2019.
“Yeah, it does,” he replied.
The anti-ISIS campaign involved Iraq-based U.S. special-operations forces and America provided major backing to the Iraqi military that provided most of the ground troops taking back the territory ISIS had controlled. Also involved in the campaign though were Russian-backed Syrian units, and Iraqi Shia militias aided by Iran and the IRGC.
Mr. Trump said he heard from Iranian officials earlier in the day that they want to meet again for peace talks.
“We received a call just as I was coming. They want to meet,” Mr. Trump said, though he immediately tossed in a big caveat.
“They always want to meet,” he said. “They’re nasty people, but they want to make a deal … You don’t have to be a genius to realize when you see what’s happening to them every night.”
Mr. Trump reimposed the blockade on Iranian ports on Tuesday after losing patience with the Islamist regime’s negotiators. He hopes economic pressure on Tehran will force it to comply with U.S. demands to end its nuclear ambitions.
Both nations say the other side violated the terms of a memorandum of understanding that was supposed to set the stage for a final peace deal.
U.S. Central Command said that during the first 17 hours of the blockade, it redirected two commercial vessels.
“The U.S. military remains vigilant and prepared to ensure full compliance,” CENTCOM said on social media.
The U.S. previously imposed a naval blockade on Iran from April 13 to June 18. The military redirected 140 ships and disabled nine more during that span.
• Tom Howell Jr. contributed to this story.
