The threat by US president Donald Trump to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Age where it belongs” has been described as “unacceptable” by Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
He said people in Iran and across the Middle East need the conflict to come to an end, warning that if it continues for a prolonged period it will have serious consequences for the global economy, reports Breaking News.
The Taoiseach also said the Irish Government is not currently considering fuel rationing, noting that some financial “firepower” is being reserved for later in the year.
In a 19-minute national address, the US president said the country was “on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly”, reports Breaking News.
Trump also called on nations dependent on the Strait of Hormuz for oil transport to “build up some delayed courage” and “just grab it”, adding that the situation would “open up naturally” once the conflict concludes.
He further warned that he would strike Iran “extremely hard” within the next two to three weeks, reports Breaking News.
Responding to Trump’s “stone age” remarks, Martin said ordinary Iranian citizens have “no act or part” in the conflict and must be protected.
“That’s unacceptable. Every person involved in war has to prioritise civilian protection and innocent civilians,” he told Newstalk radio, reports Breaking News.
“We all know that the Iranian regime was a very oppressive one but this war is creating death, destruction to people in Iran who had no act or part in the regime.
“So for the people of Iran, in the first instance, for the people in the Middle East, more generally, this war must end,” he said, reports Breaking News.
Martin described threats against civilians as “wrong”, though he added it was “not clear” whether the comments were aimed at Iran’s civilian population or infrastructure.
“(We) could be forever trying to interpret President Trump in terms of what he said and what actually gets done, and that’s always been the feature,” he said, noting that US strikes on oil infrastructure had ceased, reports Breaking News.
He also said that no government can fully shield every individual or sector from the effects of the energy crisis triggered by the conflict.
Martin emphasised that hauliers are vital to trade and food supply, and said any State supports should be directed toward those most in need, reports Breaking News.
“We don’t believe fuel capping would work, and it’s an endless sort of commitment,” he said.
“We think what we’ve done so far makes sense. I think a more targeted approach is the way to go, to be frank with you.
“I think we also are cautious, because we don’t know quite know what’s around the corner here and in terms of how this long this war is going to continue, and we need to keep some firepower,” he said, reports Breaking News.
Martin also criticised Israel’s ground offensive in Lebanon as a “wholly disproportionate” reaction to attacks by Hezbollah.
He warned that withdrawing more than 360 Irish peacekeepers would have “very very serious” consequences, reports Breaking News.
“We need to be careful that we would take out any international observance in Lebanon, because a similar fate (to Gaza), particularly in south Lebanon, could await the inhabitants there if there is no one to hold Israel to account.
“(That is) a sense a lot in the international community have, and the very mere presence of UNIFIL is in itself a factor that can limit the nature and scale of Israeli attacks,” he said, reports Breaking News.
The Taoiseach reiterated that a prolonged conflict in the Middle East would significantly affect the global economy, livelihoods, and create wider knock-on effects.
Speaking on Newstalk’s Breakfast show with Anton Savage, he said such impacts would include rising inflation and increased costs for oil-based products like fertiliser, plastics, and helium used in semiconductors, reports Breaking News.
He added that the aviation sector could also face disruption.
“When you think that over the last five, six, seven, eight years, we’ve had one shock after the other, Brexit, Covid, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, different to this crisis, but nonetheless created an energy disruption of a significant kind.
“Then we had the tariffs coming from the US, and now we have this war, and it’s been endless. Cumulatively, all of those will have impact,” he said, reports Breaking News.
“Hauliers are key to trade, hauliers are key to getting food on our shelves and so on like that. And so that’s why we took specific measures to help hauliers.
“We’ll have to look at the whole area of food production as well in terms of the fertiliser issue and costs there, just say we did in Covid, if you remember, and it wasn’t spoken about as much, but we kept industry going during Covid.
“We took specific measures in terms of enabling pharmaceuticals, enabling all of that. If this continues at length, we have to maintain that sort of support for hauliers. We’d have to look at food production more generally. But we hope this comes to an end sooner,” he said, reports Breaking News.
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