It's been almost two weeks since Donald Trump became president and already he has flexed his warmongering muscles. First, his National Security Advisor Michael Flynn condemned a ballistic missile launch by Iran on Wednesday morning. He called it a provocative act that breached a UN Security Council resolution. He then mentioned other so-called provocative acts by Iran such as allegedly supporting Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have been accused of attacking U.S allies.
Flynn made the provocative statement that "As of today Iran is now officially put on notice."
Last Friday, President Trump made what sources have called a humiliating phone call to the Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. During the conversation, President Trump threatened to send U.S. troops to, "stop the bad hombres down there." Of course, he wasn't specific on exactly who he was referring to but speculation that it could be referring to drug cartels that have caused havoc along the border over the years.
President Trump's tough talk on Mexico
The president is continuing to show his tough and straight talk that he used during his campaign to the White House as his brand of diplomacy.
The phone call he made to the Mexican President was meant to be a conversation to work out their differences. Recently, President Trump demanded that Mexico pays for a border wall which Mexico strongly refused to do.
The Mexican President later canceled his visit to the U.S. During the tense phone call the President offered to send troops down to Mexico to take care of what he called the "bad hombres down there." He complained that the Mexican government simply wasn't doing enough to stop them and accused Mexico's military of being too scared to handle the situation. Mexico's foreign relations department flat out denied the confrontational phone call.
In October during the presidential debate, President Trump declared he would do everything he could to get rid of the drug lords and "bad people." This latest spat comes on the heels of the president threatening to impose a 20% tax on Mexican goods in order to finance the border wall.
Trump and his administration has harsh words for Iran
National Security Advisor Michael Flynn made his controversial statement that the White House was officially putting Iran on notice after Iran launched a new ballistic missile testing its capabilities. Other three senior officials in the administration all said that they are in the early stages of determining what the actual response should be.
The options they proposed were most likely to be financial measures or economic sanctions. However, no options were left off the table including a military attack. Flynn added, "The Obama administration failed to respond adequately to Iran's maligned actions." Michael Flynn chastised Iran for threatening stability in the mid-east region and placing American lives at risk.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, also said that the U.S. wouldn't sit idly by and not act on those provocative actions. Iran's foreign ministry explained that the tests were purely defensive in nature. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump added his own sentiments on Iran with a Twitter post.
President Trump has in the past threatened to repeal the nuclear deal that the Obama administration made with Iran. As a result of the deal sanctions on Iran were later lifted. If President Trump decides to reenact those sanctions relations between the U.S. and Iran will be strained. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail, but as we have seen with President Trump, his impulsive actions usually turn out rubbing others the wrong way and causing a bigger problem in the end.