Kentucky [US], March 12 (ANI): US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (local time) said that the International Energy Agency (IEA) has agreed to coordinate the release of 400 million barrels of oil from national petroleum reserves worldwide in a bid to reduce prices amid the conflict involving Iran.
Addressing a gathering here, Trump said, “I’m pleased to report that earlier today, the International Energy Agency agreed to coordinate the release of a record 400 million barrels of oil from various national petroleum reserves around the world, which will substantially reduce oil prices as we end this threat to America and this threat to the world.”
He said the coordinated move was aimed at keeping global energy supplies stable while the United States continues military operations linked to the ongoing conflict.
“My administration is also working to keep the oil flowing all over,” he said.
Trump also claimed that US forces had targeted Iranian naval capabilities in the Gulf region to prevent disruptions to maritime shipping routes.
“We have knocked out 58 naval ships. We knocked out their navy,” he said, adding that US forces had also destroyed multiple Iranian mine-laying vessels allegedly intended to threaten commercial shipping.
“They also knocked out the mine layers. They put mines in the water. Lovely job. We knocked out 31 of them,” he said.
Trump further said the US military used weapons systems previously deployed against maritime drug trafficking networks.
“I said, ‘Why did you use the weapon that we use on the drugs that come in by sea?’ Do you know that drug shipments by sea are down by 98 percent? I said, ‘That’s a hell of a weapon.’ They said, ‘We’ll give it a shot.’ It worked very well,” he said.
Trump added that Washington intends to continue operations until its objectives are achieved.
“We don’t want to leave early, do we? We’ve got to finish the job, right?” he said.
Earlier, Trump said the United States carried out a military strike against Iran under an operation named “Epic Fury,” claiming the action was aimed at eliminating threats posed by what he described as a “terrorist regime.”
Addressing the gathering, Trump said he chose the name for the operation from among 20 options presented by US military generals.
“I saw ‘Epic Fury’ and said, ‘I like that name,’” Trump said, describing how officials presented him with a list of possible names for the strike.
“They gave me like 20 names, and I’m falling asleep because I didn’t like any of them. Then I saw Epic Fury. I said, ‘I like that name. I like that name,’” he added. (ANI)
