Trump Warns Iran of "Very Hard" Retaliation If Link to Flydubai Cockpit Attack Is Confirmed

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump warned on Thursday that the United States would strike Iran “very hard” if investigators establish that Tehran was behind the attempted hijacking of a flydubai flight last month, as the Pentagon moves roughly 9,000 troops and additional warships toward the Middle East.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said early indications suggest a possible Iranian link to the co-pilot who stabbed his captain aboard flydubai flight FZ1073, a Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight, on September 30, in what officials have described as an attempted terrorist attack.

“I would say the answer, based on what I’m hearing, is ‘yes,’ but we’re working on it right now,” Trump said, offering no details or evidence. “Oh they’ll be hit, very hard, don’t worry. You just ask them. They know what happened. They’ll be hit very hard.”

Flight FZ1073 was about two hours into its journey from Dubai to Tel Aviv when the Omani co-pilot, identified by UAE authorities as 29-year-old Hamam al-Hammami, attacked the Indian captain with an emergency crash axe, stabbing him in the cockpit. The aircraft plunged from 34,000 feet to about 17,000 feet in under a minute before the wounded captain managed to unlock the cockpit door, allowing passengers and crew to rush in and overpower the attacker.

The Boeing 737 MAX, carrying 174 passengers and crew, diverted and made an emergency landing at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia. The UAE’s attorney general has described the incident as an attempted terrorist attack and said the suspect was believed to hold extremist ideologies; Omani authorities had previously barred him from obtaining a pilot’s license. India’s anti-terror National Investigation Agency registered a case under the Anti-Hijacking Act to probe the wider conspiracy.

The troop movement adds urgency to the president’s warning. A U.S. official told the Associated Press that roughly 9,000 service members — more than 7,000 sailors and 2,000 Marines — are en route to the region aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group (with the cruiser USS Chosin) and the USS Makin Island amphibious readiness group (with the USS John P. Murtha and USS Anchorage).

Once in place, three U.S. aircraft carriers could be in the region simultaneously as early as the end of October, alongside the USS George H.W. Bush and USS George Washington — the first such concentration since April, and before that since 2003. Combined with forces already in place, the move would bring the U.S. naval presence to more than 20,000 sailors and Marines.

Trump also warned anew that fresh U.S. strikes against Iran could be coming, after CENTCOM destroyed an Iranian-affiliated dhow it said was conducting surveillance in the Gulf of Oman and after a naval blockade of Iranian ports was announced. U.S. and Israeli officials have previously said renewed military operations could take place around the November 3 U.S. midterm elections, according to Axios reporting.

Iran has not yet responded to Trump’s latest remarks.

Sources



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