During a press conference at the White House, Donald Trump praised the American military, and not least the high-profile operation in which a downed American pilot was rescued after hiding in Iran for more than a day.
"It was a historic effort," he said.
The president, however, was more coy at the start of the press conference about the Tuesday evening deadline he has given Iran to open the closed trade route through the Strait of Hormuz. Only after 75 minutes did he say:
"They have until tomorrow. We'll see what happens. After tomorrow night they'll have nothing left, no bridges, nothing. The Stone Age."
War crimes?
When asked if he was worried that this could involve American war crimes, he said:
"No, not at all. But I hope I don't have to."
The president also dismissed the question of whether continued attacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran primarily affect the country's population.
"They would be willing to suffer through it to achieve freedom," Trump replied.
But he also said that he will not go as far as he would like and was about to repeat earlier comments that he would like to take Iran's oil when he got into a discussion about Venezuela.
What's stopping him, Trump told reporters earlier Monday, is the American people.
"Unfortunately, they want us to go home. If I had my way, I would take the oil and make a lot of money."
Threatened journalists
But Trump spent the longest time, and the most energy, on the rescue operation of the American pilot in Iran. According to the president, over 150 planes and helicopters participated in the rescue, which was carried out despite Iran knowing that the pilot was alive and in Iran.
The fact that this information was leaked to the public was condemned by Trump, who also threatened journalists with reprisals.
"We will go to the media company that released the information, and we will say, 'National security, give us the information or go to jail.'"
