Trump says Iran 'not the bully any longer' in Middle East

HAMILTON, Canada

President Donald Trump slammed Iran’s regional behavior on Friday as a longtime "bully" whose influence he claimed is now diminishing under a US military operation.

"For 47 years, Iran has been known as the bully of the Middle East, but they are not the bully any longer. They're on the run," Trump said at the Future Investment Initiative, a Saudi business conference in the US state of Florida.

Trump argued Iranian "terror aggression" and "nuclear blackmail" had defined the country’s posture for decades.

He credited the US military campaign, Operation Epic Fury, with weakening Tehran’s capabilities.

"As you know, we're gathered at a moment of bold action and historic decision to make America and our allies safer and stronger, more prosperous, more successful than ever before. That's what's happening.

"Tonight we're closer than ever to the rise of the Middle East that is finally free at last, from Iranian terror aggression and nuclear blackmail," Trump said.

- 'Iran has to open up Strait of Hormuz'

Trump claimed that Iran is negotiating and "begging" to make a deal. "Their leaders are dead. Their supreme leader is no longer supreme. He's dead. Son is either dead or in very bad shape, because nobody has heard from him. I think he says, 'just keep me out of this.'"

Saying that the US has "another 3,554 targets left" in Iran, Trump vowed that it would "be done pretty quickly."

Trump also refused to call the Iran operation a "war" and said he "would rather say a military operation."

He explained that it is due to "legal reasons" and to avoid any approval for the operation.

Turning to the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, Trump urged Tehran to open the waterway.

He also joked about renaming the Strait of Hormuz to the "Strait of Trump."

"We're negotiating now, and it would be great if we could do something, but they have to open it up. They have to open up the Strait of Trump -- I mean Hormuz. Excuse me, I'm so sorry. Such a terrible mistake.

"The fake news will say, 'he accidentally said.' There's no accidents with me, not too many. If there were, it would have a major story," he added.

The US president also took aim at NATO, and called the alliance's decision not to join the Iran war a "tremendous mistake."

"We would have always been there for them, but now, based on their actions, I guess we don't have to be," he said.

Arguing that he waged the war on Iran for the "respect of the world," Trump said, "We helped a lot of allies, and we learned about other allies. We learned that other allies weren't there."

"We didn't need them, but they weren't there if we did need them, and that's going to be very costly for them," he warned.

He also praised Saudi Arabia, Qatar the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, as well as Türkiye and Indonesia for their support throughout the war.

"I think Turkey was fantastic. Actually, fantastic, and they stayed out of things that we asked them to," he said, calling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a "great leader."

Trump claimed that "the Middle East will be transformed," and the future of the region has never "looked brighter."

Expressing hopes for countries in the region to join the Abraham Accords, he claimed that "all the Middle Eastern countries are going to be joining now."

The Abraham Accords are US-sponsored agreements to normalize relations between Israel and Muslim-majority countries.