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US President Donald Trump hailed Greenland as "second to none" for US and European security on Wednesday, saying any future attack on America would have to pass through the Arctic island.
Greenland "from a Security Purpose in the Defence and Offence of both the United States of America, and Europe, is second to none," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
He added any future attacks on the US would have to come across Greenland, "where our Defence will routinely knock down drones, missiles, or any other form of weapon not yet even conceived."
Trump also said that oil, gas and mineral exploration was preparing to begin in Greenland.
Washington signed a security deal with the leaders of Greenland and Denmark after Trump threatened to take Copenhagen's strategically important Arctic Circle territory by force.
Greenland, which lies on the shortest route for missiles between Russia and the United States, represents a highly strategic location for Trump's desired "Golden Dome" defence shield.
It also has untapped rare earth deposits and could be a critical player as melting polar ice opens up new shipping routes.
"Massive Oil, Gas, and Mineral Exploration is getting ready to begin in our new and beautiful Greenland!" Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Citing experts, Trump said "the amount of easily available Oil is far greater than that of almost...anywhere in the World."
He did not give details of prospective American involvement.
In August, media reports of a US oil company's preparatory operations in a remote region of eastern Greenland left locals and authorities on the island uneasy.
Trump signed a security deal with the leaders of Greenland and Denmark on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September.
Under the terms of the deal, shared online by the Danish Foreign Ministry, the US will be permitted to expand its military presence on Greenland through the modernisation and enlargement of its current Pituffik Space Base and the establishment of new defence areas at Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig.
It will also allow the US "free access to and movement between" defence areas across Greenland, "including the Territorial Waters, by land, air and sea."
American aircraft may also fly over and land in any territory on the island, it states.
Both Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s Premier Jens-Frederik Nielsen welcomed the agreement, which stopped short of Trump's wish to seize the territory for the US, a move he had argued was essential for the US' "national security."
In a statement, Frederiksen said the deal "strengthens our common security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic Area," while Nielsen said it was "to the benefit of us all."
The US is reported to have had 17 military facilities and over 10,000 troops on Greenland at the height of the Cold War.
It currently operates just one base on the island, the Pituffik Space Base, which is used for missile warning, missile defence and space surveillance missions, per the US Space Force.