Trump renews criticism of Japan, South Korea for not helping US in Iran war

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WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump on April 6 renewed his criticism of Japan, South Korea, Australia and the NATO alliance for not providing naval assistance to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz amid the US-Israeli war against Iran.

During a press conference at the White House, he complained that Japan and South Korea “didn’t help us” despite the presence of tens of thousands of US troops in the two countries to protect them from North Korea, which he noted has “a lot of nuclear weapons”.

His suggestion that US military support for the two key American allies in Asia, as well as Australia, should be reciprocated came after he again decried the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) as a “paper tiger”.

In contrast, he praised some countries in the Middle East, including Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, for being “good” partners with the United States since it and Israel launched the war on Feb 28.

While reiterating his threat to Iran, Mr Trump asserted that the United States has already won the war militarily. Unless Tehran makes a deal with Washington, he said, Iran’s critical infrastructure could be destroyed within a span of four hours starting at 8pm on April 7 (8am, Singapore time, April 8).

Mr Trump has set that deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway vital for global oil supplies. Tehran has largely blocked the strait since the war began, upending energy markets.

The reopening of the shipping lane, he said, is a “very big priority”.

“We have to have a deal that’s acceptable to me, and part of that deal is going to be we want free traffic of oil and everything,” he said.

Otherwise, he said: “We have a plan, because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again.”

Speaking alongside Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine and Central Intelligence Agency chief John Ratcliffe, the president said the United States would rather not demolish Iran’s important infrastructure.

“It will take them 100 years to rebuild right now. If we left today, it would take them 20 years to rebuild their country, and it would never be as good as it was,” he added. “The only way they’re going to be able to rebuild their country is to utilise the genius of the United States of America.”

Earlier in the day, Iran’s official IRNA news agency said the country wants a permanent end to the war, instead of a ceasefire.

Rejecting Washington’s 15-point ceasefire proposal, which the news agency said was delivered through Pakistan, Iran presented its own 10-point plan, including a framework to stop regional hostilities and ensure safe passage through the strategic waterway. KYODO