President Donald Trump admitted on Monday that the U.S. tried to send guns to Iran, but the scheme did not work out the way he wanted.
The president, 79, was taking questions from reporters at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll one day after delivering his profanity-filled ultimatum to Iran when he brought up the gun-running plot.
“You know we sent some guns,” Trump shared. “But the group that was supposed to give, which I said would happen to my people, I said it, I called it exactly.”
“We sent guns, lot of guns,” Trump continued. “They were supposed to go to the people, so they could fight back against these thugs.”
“Know what happened? The people that they sent them to kept them,” Trump shared. “Because they said, ‘What a beautiful gun. I think I’ll keep it.’”
“So I’m very upset with a certain group of people, and they’re going to pay a big price for that,” He added.
The president went on to claim the Iranian people would fight back “as soon as they know they won’t be shot, and as soon as they can get weapons.”
Trump claimed that if the Iranian people had weapons, the government would “give up in two seconds.”
The president did not share who the U.S. had supplied the guns to. The Daily Beast asked the White House for comment.
The president’s admission came in response to a question about how Trump was taking care of the Iranian people, as he claimed, if he was bombing them.
“The Iranian people, when they don’t hear bombs go off, they’re upset,” Trump claimed. “They want to hear bombs because they want to be free.”
The president’s claim came just weeks after one of the initial U.S. strikes on Iran hit an Iranian elementary school, killing at least 175 people, the preliminary investigation found.
Trump argued on Monday that the only reason Iranians are not out protesting is that they were informed that if they did, they would be shot immediately.
He claimed that the U.S. has “pretty good information” that 45,000 protesters have been killed in Iran in the last month.
On Easter Sunday, Trump posted on Truth Social his latest ultimatum for Iran in which he threatened to decimate the infrastructure.
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F—n’ Strait, you crazy b------s, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH!” Trump posted.
On Monday, he argued he was using the vulgar language “only to make my point” when asked about it by reporters.
“I think you’ve heard it before,” he added.
Trump was asked why it was not a war crime to strike Iranian bridges and power plants. He claimed it was not because Iran was killing thousands of protesters.
The president also blasted Americans who were not on board with his war in Iran as “foolish.”
