Trump responds to Iran’s warning of Middle East war: "If we don’t reach a deal, we’ll find out"

According to The Financial News, Donald Trump, who has dispatched an aircraft carrier strike group to waters near the Islamic Republic of Iran (Iran), again emphasized that he wants dialogue with Iran. He also suggested that the use of military force remains an option if no agreement is reached.
U.S. media including National Broadcasting Company (NBC) reported that Trump was asked on the 1st (local time) at The Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, how he viewed remarks by Iran’s supreme leader. Trump answered, "Why wouldn’t he say that? He has to say that." He then added, "I hope we can reach an agreement with Iran."
Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, who faced large-scale anti-government protests from last December through last month, said in a speech on the 1st marking the 47th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution of 1979, "The recent unrest was like a coup." He claimed that demonstrators "attacked the police, government institutions, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) facilities, banks and mosques, and burned the Quran," stressing, "This was clearly a coup."
Khamenei also addressed the fact that the United States has hinted at possible military intervention under the pretext of supporting Iran’s anti-government protests, saying, "The Iranian people have no reason to fear such things." He went on, "If the United States starts a war, it must understand that this time it will be a regional war." This is widely interpreted as a warning that Iran could retaliate by striking U.S. bases in the Middle East or targeting the State of Israel, Washington’s key ally.
Last month, Trump ordered the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), previously deployed in the Indo-Pacific region, to move to the Middle East. It is reported that the Arabian Sea and surrounding areas now host six U.S. destroyers, one aircraft carrier and three littoral combat ships.
In the interview on the 1st, Trump said, "We have the largest and most powerful warships in the world stationed there," and warned, "If we do not reach a deal, we will find out whether he (Khamenei) was right or not."
Meanwhile, Trump, who has been threatening Cuba following last month’s actions against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, also stressed that talks with Cuba are possible. In the same interview he said, "We are talking with Cuba’s top officials and watching the situation," adding, "I think we can reach an agreement with Cuba." However, he did not specify what such an agreement might entail. On the 29th of last month, Trump declared a national emergency, saying Cuba poses a threat to U.S. national security, and signed an executive order imposing tariffs on countries that engage in oil transactions with Cuba.
pjw@fnnews.com Park Jong-won Reporter