He also said early indications suggest that Iran is linked to the co-pilot who stabbed his captain and tried to crash an Israel-bound flight on Wednesday.
In an exchange with reporters at the White House, Trump raised the connection when asked by a reporter if there were any links between the pilot behind the attack and Tehran.
“I would say the answer, based on what I’m hearing, is ‘yes,’ but we’re working on it right now,” Trump said, without offering details.
Trump also warned that if the link is established to Iran, the United States would retaliate.
“Oh they’ll be hit, very hard, don’t worry," Trump said. “You just ask them. They know what happened. They’ll be hit very hard.”
Meanwhile, the group of ships now en route to the Middle East together carry over 7,000 sailors and 2,000 Marines.
It includes the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group, which recently deployed with the cruiser USS Chosin, and the USS Makin Island amphibious readiness group, which includes the USS John P. Murtha and USS Anchorage amphibious landing ships.
It could mean that three carriers are in the region as early as the end of October, according to the U.S. official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.
Given the personnel already in place in the Middle East, the move would bring the U.S. naval presence to an unusually high number of more than 20,000 sailors and Marines and hundreds of aircraft. The Navy previously had three carrier strike groups in the Middle East in April for the first time since 2003.
