President Donald Trump suggested there could be an Iranian attack on American soil as the U.S. military continues to attack Iran.
When asked by Time magazine whether Americans should be worried about retaliatory attacks within the nation, Trump replied, “I guess.”
“But I think they’re worried about that all the time. We think about it all the time. We plan for it,” he said in the interview published Thursday. “But yeah, you know, we expect some things. Like I said, some people will die. When you go to war, some people will die.”
The FBI is monitoring the threat of Iranian sleeper cells that may be or have been activated in the United States.
On Sunday, a 53-year-old gunman sympathetic to the Islamic regime committed a mass shooting at a bar in Austin, Texas. At least four people, including the gunman, died in the shooting. More than a dozen others were injured.
The FBI is investigating the incident as an act of terrorism after investigators recovered objects belonging to the suspect that point to a “potential nexus to terrorism.”
The suspect, identified as Ndiaga Diagne, wore a hoodie with the words “Property of Allah” and a shirt depicting the Iranian flag during the attack. Diagne was a naturalized American citizen from Senegal.
At least six U.S. service members have been killed since Trump launched “Operation Epic Fury” against Iran last Saturday. There have been hundreds more deaths across the Middle East.
In his latest interview with Time, Trump recounted concerns that Iran would strike first amid a stalled nuclear deal, which is why he accelerated the timeline for the joint U.S.-Israel strikes.
“America First is really about keeping America healthy and well, and not having other countries, you know, hit us,” he said. “There are occasions when you have no choice. This was an occasion.”
Trump also stated his top objectives for the international conflict are to prevent Iran from firing a nuclear weapon or ballistic missiles toward the U.S. and to install a “rational and sane” successor. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the initial airstrikes.
“One of the things I’m going to be asking for is the ability to work with them on choosing a new leader,” Trump told the magazine. “I’m not going through this to end up with another Khamenei. I want to be involved in the selection. They can select, but we have to make sure it’s somebody that’s reasonable to the United States.”
US WAR IN IRAN IS ‘FULL STEAM AHEAD’ WITH CONTINUED BOMBINGS
Following his death, Khamenei is set to be succeeded by his son as the next supreme leader of Iran. Mojtaba Khamenei is presently the favored choice within the clerical regime.
Meanwhile, exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi wants to lead his native country into the future. His bid, however, is not backed by Trump. The president said he would prefer someone who is popular within Iran as the country’s next leader.
