Should Trump win Nobel Prize for this? Asaduddin Owaisi mocks Pak as US bombs Iran

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday mocked Pakistan for earlier nominating US President Donald Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize earlier, before America joined Israel in its attacks on Iran, striking Tehran's key nuclear facilities.

In an interview with ANI, Owaisi questioned whether Pakistan had supported Trump only to see the US dropping bombs on Iran and mocked Pakistan Army chief General Asim Munir's meeting with Trump at the White House on Wednesday.

"We should ask Pakistanis if they wanted Trump to get a Nobel Peace Prize since they had proposed it," he said after the US struck Iran's three nuclear sites in Isfahan, Fordow and Natanz.

"Did Pakistan's General (Army chief Asim Munir) have lunch with the US President for this? They all have been exposed today," he said.

Slamming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Owaisi said the US attacks had helped him and described him as a "butcher of Palestinians".

"This attack by the US has helped Netanyahu, who is a butcher of Palestinians to cover up the genocide, which he has done in Gaza and he continues to do so. At least 55,000 Palestinians have been killed and the US is not worried about it," Owaisi said.

Calling Iran's nuclear threat a "boogie", the Hyderabad MP said, "The same thing happened in Iraq and Libya when they said there were weapons of mass destruction. But, nothing came out."

Expressing serious concern over a full-scale war in the Middle East, he said such a situation would create catastrophic consequences for India.

"We must also remember that more than 16 million Indians live in the Gulf and Middle East, and if that area erupts in a war, which unfortunately is very likely, then it will have a grave impact on the Indians living there," he said.

Stressing that the region was vital for India's economy, Owaisi said, "The investments which Indian companies have made in all these Arab countries or Gulf countries, and a substantial amount of foreign investment comes from the region.

US STRIKES IRAN'S 3 NUCLEAR FACILITIES

Trump on Saturday (local time) announced that American forces had carried out coordinated air strikes on the Fordow, Natan and Isfahan nuclear sites in Iran, a major escalation and the first direct US military involvement in the conflict alongside Israel.

According to CBS News, the US reached out to Iran diplomatically to clarify that the strikes were limited in scope and that Washington was not seeking regime change.

The US's strikes, aimed at crippling Iran's nuclear capabilities, followed more than a week of Israeli-led assaults targeting Iran's air defence systems and missile infrastructure.

Preliminary reports indicate that two B2 bomber planes were used to carry out the strikes. This is the first instance of the US using this ammunition against Iran in the recent Middle East conflict.

Iran, which has long insisted its nuclear programme is peaceful, has retaliated with a series of missile and drone strikes in Israel, while Israel has continued to strike sites in Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi earlier stated that any US involvement in attacks on Iran would be "very, very dangerous".

The US and Iran had been in talks that could have resulted in the United States lifting some of its crushing economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran drastically limiting or ending its enrichment of uranium.

(with inputs from agencies)