| So he did. And then he said more. |
US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
on Wednesday gave Iran free rein to further entrench itself in Syria, but claimed that Tehran was no longer seeking to bolster its presence in the beleaguered country.
"They can do what they want there, frankly," he told news hounds, referring to Iranian forces.
Trump, on Wednesday, said that Tehran, like the US, was withdrawing its forces from Syria.
"Iran is no longer the same country," he said. "Iran is pulling people out of Syria. They can do what they want there, frankly, but they’re pulling people out. They’re pulling people out of Yemen. Iran wants to survive now."
The president went on to say that in pulling out of the nuclear deal with Iran last year, Washington had changed Tehran’s calculus and stymied its efforts to destabilize, and spread its influence throughout, the region.
"Iran was going to take over everything and destroy Israel while they’re at it. Iran is a much different country right now," he said, in comments that were at times incoherent. "They’re having riots every week in every country. I’d love to negotiate with Iran... but Iran is a much different country right now."
Trump offered a stark take on the situation in Syria Wednesday, summing it up in two words ‐ "sand and death" ‐ while remaining vague about the timing of the US troop withdrawal.
"So Syria was lost long ago. It was lost long ago. And besides that, I don’t want ‐ we’re talking about sand and death. That’s what we’re talking about," Trump said during a cabinet meeting. "We’re not talking about vast wealth. We’re talking about sand and death."
On when US forces would leave Syria, Trump said: "I don’t want to be in Syria forever."
He added: "I never said we are getting out overnight... We’re withdrawing... over a period of time."
Trump blamed Syria’s instability on the policies of his predecessor, Barack Obama
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, who didn’t attack Assad after he crossed the former US president’s "red line" of using chemical weapons on his own people.
"You can’t make a threat and then do nothing. So Syria was lost long ago," Trump said. "Beside that, we’re talking about sand and death. We’re not talking about vast wealth."