The Iranian Ambassador to Ireland has said Donald Trump’s Doonbeg resort and Shannon Airport would not be targeted in his country’s standoff with the US.
Speaking to reporters in Dublin, Masoud Eslami ruled out the Co Clare hotel - part of Trump’s €3billion property empire - being in the line of fire in the conflict.
Earlier this week a top adviser to Iran’s President posted a sinister link to Trump assets, including his resort in Doonbeg.
Hesameddin Ashena shared the link to a Forbes magazine article on the president’s assets in the US, Britain and Ireland.
It sparked fears Trump’s empire could be considered a target in revenge for the attack which killed military commander Qassem Soleimani and raised fears of a new war in the middle east.
The list included the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where the president was staying when he ordered the hit on Soleimani, as well as the Trump International Hotels in Washington and Las Vegas and his New York tower with its Fifth Avenue entrance.
But when asked about the targeting of Doonbeg and Shannon where US troops transit to the Gulf, Mr Eslami said: “I would rule that out for the time being. This is a very far speculation. We are very far from such a situation.”
The ambassador also compared the assassinated general - killed by the United States in a drone strike last week - to revolutionary Michael Collins.
“I may refer to the kind of feeling and respect that the people of Ireland have towards general Michael Collins as a legendary icon of resistance and bravery who devoted his life to fight against foreign domination and foreign-sponsored terrorism,” he said.
Mr Eslami called on the Irish Government to reconsider Shannon Airport being used by American troops transiting to the Middle East.
He said: “In principle, we would ask the authorities to reconsider the use of Shannon Airport to facilitate military action by the US, which has been an issue at the local level, at the national level in Ireland."
