Wild Ultimatums and ‘Bombing Our Little Hearts Out’: A Portrait of Trump at War

Trump war ultimatums: Former aides reveal threats to Iran, Venezuela, North Korea in new report

Muhammad Asghar | GlobalBeat

Former senior officials told reporters that President Donald Trump proposed bombing Iran and issued wild ultimatums to adversaries during his 2017-2021 term.

Trump once demanded the Pentagon draw up plans to strike Iran after an Iraqi militia injured 4 U.S. personnel in Kirkuk in 2019, the officials said.

The disclosures appear in a forthcoming book by two New York Times journalists who interviewed more than 200 ex-administration staffers over 3 years.

Trump ordered aides to draft an ultimatum giving North Korea 24 hours to dismantle its nuclear arsenal or face U.S. attack, two former officials confirmed.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper blocked the order, warning it could trigger war, the sources said. Trump later abandoned the plan.

“He wanted to bomb Iran,” one former senior official told the reporters. “He kept saying, ‘Why can’t we just hit them?'”

The president repeatedly asked about striking Iranian oil facilities after drone attacks on Saudi Aramco facilities in 2019, officials said.

Military leaders warned such strikes could escalate into regional conflict, former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford told interviewers.

Trump threatened Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro with U.S. invasion unless he resigned, according to 3 former National Security Council officials.

The ultimatum came during Venezuela’s 2019 political crisis when opposition leader Juan Guaidó declared himself interim president.

“He said, ‘Tell him if he doesn’t leave, we’ll come in and get him out,'” one ex-official recalled Trump saying about Maduro.

Venezuela’s government rejected the threat, with Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza calling it “reckless” at a Caracas press conference in May 2019.

Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly confirmed Trump discussed military options against Venezuela “on multiple occasions.”

The president told advisers to prepare for ” bombing our little hearts out” against Iran if Tehran attacked U.S. forces, officials said.

That phrase appeared in briefing notes for a 2020 Oval Office meeting on Middle East strategy, 2 attendees confirmed.

Trump’s Iran envoy Brian Hook warned that strikes could push oil prices above $100 per barrel, hurting Trump’s reelection chances.

The administration instead imposed new sanctions on Iran’s central bank, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced in September 2019.

Background

Trump campaigned in 2016 promising to end “endless wars” but often suggested military force against U.S. adversaries, former aides said.

He ordered the 2020 drone strike that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad, bringing Washington and Tehran close to open conflict.

Iran retaliated by firing missiles at a U.S. base in Iraq, injuring more than 100 American troops, the Pentagon confirmed in January 2020.

Trump also considered strikes against Syria’s government in 2017 and 2018 after chemical attacks, Defense Department officials told reporters.

What’s Next

The former president has not commented on the new revelations, but Trump allies expect him to dismiss them as disloyal attacks.

Several Republicans aligned with Trump declined requests to discuss the reported ultimatums, saying they had not seen the book.

Democratic lawmakers said the accounts show need for legislation restricting presidential war powers, with Senator Tim Kaine planning to reintroduce such measures.

The disclosures will likely fuel debate about Trump’s foreign policy approach as he seeks the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.