WASHINGTON
\nUS President Donald Trump on Thursday warned that Iran will be \u201chit very hard\u201d if it is found to be linked to a pilot\u2019s attack on a flydubai flight to Israel. The dramatic events saw passengers help stop the plane from crashing, making an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia before the flight\u2019s mostly Israeli passengers were flown home to a hero\u2019s welcome.
\nTrump\u2019s warning came as the United Arab Emirates opened an investigation into whether the incident was linked to terrorism and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed the suspect had undergone radical indoctrination. \u201cI would say the answer, based on what I\u2019m hearing, is yes but we\u2019re working on it right now,\u201d Trump told reporters Thursday when asked at the White House whether Iran was involved in what happened on the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
\nOn whether the United States would retaliate against Iran if it was found responsible, Trump replied: \u201cOh, they\u2019ll be hit very hard, don\u2019t worry.\u201d Trump\u2019s threat coincided with a wider US military buildup in the region. Axios reported that Washington had recently deployed additional Patriot missile batteries to Saudi Arabia and Qatar to help protect key energy facilities from possible Iranian retaliation.
\nThe US news outlet also reported that the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier and its strike group were heading to the Middle East, where they could join two other US carrier strike groups already in the region. As speculation swirled about a possible motive, the UAE and Saudi Arabia began to piece together the events in the cabin.
\nSaudi Arabia said the co-pilot was transferred to the UAE on Thursday accompanied by an \u201cEmirati security team\u201d, adding that its initial investigation showed he had attacked the aircraft\u2019s captain. The alleged assault triggered a struggle for control of the aircraft before an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. Passengers were later flown to Israel on a replacement flight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON US President Donald Trump on Thursday warned that Iran will be \u201chit very hard\u201d if it is found to be linked to a pilot\u2019s attack on a flydubai flight to Israel. The dramatic events saw passengers help stop the plane from crashing, making an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia before the flight\u2019s mostly Israeli […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570312,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-570298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n