Trump: I won’t be as ‘kind’ to Iran as Obama

In an early-morning flurry of tweets, President Trump on Friday took aim at Iran for the third day in a row and denied reports of a heated phone call with Australia’s prime minister.

Iran is playing with fire – they don’t appreciate how “kind” President Obama was to them. Not me!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2017

Thank you to Prime Minister of Australia for telling the truth about our very civil conversation that FAKE NEWS media lied about. Very nice!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2017

The tweets came amid revelations on Wednesday that the White House was planning a fresh round of sanctions on several Iranian entities in the wake of recent ballistic missile tests by the country. National security adviser Michael Flynn on Tuesday said the administration was putting Iran “on notice” after the tests.

But Tehran has largely dismissed threats from the White House, calling Trump’s words “baseless ranting” from an “inexperienced” leader and vowing it would continue its missile tests.

{mosads}Adding to the bout of international controversy were reports on Tuesday that Trump had lashed out against Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during a Saturday phone call. During the conversation, The Washington Post reported, the president bragged about the size of his Electoral College victory and bashed a refugee deal between the two countries, before ending the conversation more than half an hour earlier than scheduled.

Turnbull refused to comment on the details of the conversation during a Wednesday press conference but indicated that the U.S. would uphold its end of a deal to resettle 1,250 refugees being held in Australia. 

Still, the reports of the chaotic conversation prompted two Republican senators to call the Australian ambassador, as well as a meeting between the ambassador and two of Trump’s top aides on Thursday.

Turnbull said in a radio interview that there was a “clear commitment from the president” that the refugee resettlement would continue. 

“The alliance is absolutely rock-solid. It is so strong,” he said.