Trump vows to ‘finish job’, thanks Middle East allies; urges countries to show courage, buy US oil
Says US will ‘hit Iran extremely hard’ over next 2-3 weeks, threatens power plants
Washington: US President Donald Trump has said the United States is close to achieving its objectives in Iran, while thanking key allies in the Middle East for their support.
“We are gonna finish the job. We are getting very close,” Trump said, expressing appreciation to Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Bahrain. “They’ve been great and we will not let them fail in any way shape or form,” he added.
Trump claimed that US military operations against Iran have delivered major results over the past month. Referring to “Operation Epic Fury”, he said American forces had carried out “swift, decisive, overwhelming victories on the battlefield”.
He said Iran’s naval and air capabilities had been severely weakened and its ability to launch missiles and drones had been significantly reduced. “Their ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed, and their weapons factories and rocket launchers are being blown to pieces – very few of them left,” he said.
The US president also repeated his criticism of the 2015 nuclear deal signed under former President Barack Obama, claiming it would have allowed Iran to develop nuclear weapons. Iran has consistently maintained that its nuclear programme is peaceful.
Trump said the US military campaign aims to weaken Iran’s ability to support proxy groups and prevent it from developing nuclear weapons. “Taken together, these actions will cripple Iran militarily,” he said, adding that key strategic objectives are “nearing completion”.
In a separate remark, Trump urged countries dependent on Gulf oil to take action and suggested they should rely more on American energy supplies. He called on them to show “delayed courage” and secure the Strait of Hormuz, which has been affected by the ongoing conflict.
“[They] should have done it before, should have done it with us, as we asked. Go to the strait and just take it, protect it,” he said, adding that the United States has sufficient oil resources.
The remarks come as tensions remain high in the region, with continued military exchanges and growing concerns over global energy supplies.
“We will continue until our objectives are fully achieved. Thanks to the progress, we’ve made, I can say we are on track to complete all of America’s objectives shortly, very shortly,” the US president said.
We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We are going to take them back to the stone ages where they belong,” he added.
He further added that “regime change was never our goal” but that “regime change has occurred because of their original leader’s death”.
He’s also warned Iran of strikes on power plants if no deal is agreed.
“If during this period of time, no deal is made, we have our eyes on key targets. If no deal is reached we are going to hit every one of their electric generating plants very hard, and probably simultaneously,” he says.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
ISRO invites proposals from Indian researchers to study data from Aditya-L1 mission
New Delhi (PTI): The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on Thursday that it is inviting proposals from the Indian solar physics community to access data from the Aditya-L1 mission, the first space-based Indian mission to study the Sun.
This is the second such formal call from ISRO for Indian scientists to access the Aditya-L1 mission data; the first call was made in January.
"At present, there are over 27 TB of data in the public domain, and several important scientific results have been published in international peer-reviewed journals. To further maximise the scientific return from this unique mission, the ISRO has released the second Announcement of Opportunity (AO) inviting proposals from the Indian solar physics community for Aditya-L1 observation time," the ISRO said in a statement.
Proposals can be submitted by Indian scientists and researchers based at institutes, universities, or colleges in India. The applicants should be involved in research in the area of solar science and equipped to submit proposals as principal investigators for solar observations with the necessary scientific and technical justification.
The approved observations for this second AO cycle will take place between July and September.
Launched in September 2023, the Aditya-L1 mission was successfully inserted into a halo orbit around the first Lagrangian point (L1) in the Sun-Earth system in January 2024. This L1 point, located around 1.5 million km away from Earth, offers the unique advantage of continuous, uninterrupted observation of the Sun, free from eclipses or occultation.
The Aditya-L1 mission carries seven scientific payloads -- four for remote sensing and three for in-situ measurements.
"The remote sensing instruments observe different layers of the Sun, including the photosphere, chromosphere, and corona, using various wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation," ISRO said.
The in-situ payloads, including particle detectors and magnetometers, collect data on the space environment around L1.
