President Donald Trump, pushing back at the suggestion that the US was responsible for a deadly strike on an elementary school in Iran, claimed at a press conference Monday that Iran has Tomahawk cruise missiles. But Trump’s claim was immediately rejected by arms experts.
There has never been an indication that Iran has any Tomahawks, which are made by US defense manufacturer Raytheon for the US military, subject to strict export controls and not the “generic” product Trump claimed Monday. Since the 1990s, a small number of US allies have been permitted by the US government to purchase them; the list includes the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan and the Netherlands but not Israel or any other ally in the Middle East.
It certainly does not include Iran, which has been an adversary of the US since the late 1970s.
“Iran definitely does not, repeat does not, have Tomahawks,” Jeffrey Lewis, distinguished scholar of global security at Middlebury College, said in a text message Monday evening.
“Astonishing bald faced lying. Childish,” tweeted retired US Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, a Trump critic, in response to the Trump claim.
Trump made the claim after a reporter told him that video footage showed “a Tomahawk missile likely destroyed that Iranian girls’ school” and asked, “So will the Americans – will the US accept any responsibility?”
A video published by a semi-official Iranian news agency appears to show a US missile targeting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)...
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