United States President Donald Trump issued another warning regarding fresh strikes in Iran on Wednesday, hours after Tehran and Washington traded fire. Following the US strikes on Iranian targets around the Strait of Hormuz, Trump said more such attacks would be launched.
“We’re going to hit them again hard today,” Trump told reporters at the White House, according to the Associated Press. He said the US forces would attack the Iranian sites “very hard” if no peace deal was finalised. “We were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along,” Trump said.
The US President said he would not reveal whether the US would “knock out” bridges or power plants. America retaliated to the downing of a US Apache helicopter, hitting sites near Hormuz on Wednesday. Following this, Iran carried out strikes on Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain – all three countries which host US troops. This was the second time this week that back-and-forth strikes have tested the ceasefire.
Trump's warning came after he said that Iran would have to “pay the price” because it “took too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them.”
The US President also claimed that the Iranian army was a “complete and total mess” and had been “defeated.”
The US had, in its latest strikes, targeted Iran's “air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites,” the military’s Central Command said. Iran acknowledged strikes around Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island, but gave no details on damage.
Trump claims Iran agreed not to have nuclear weapons, says ‘should sign’ deal
Trump reiterated his claim that Iran had agreed not to have a nuclear weapon, but said that Tehran would need to sign the deal. “All they have to do is sign the paper,” the US President said, according to Reuters news agency.
The US President also said that he would “see what happens” with the deal, while speaking about fresh strikes on Iran. He said that the US was looking for a deal “that is meaningful”. “We want a deal that works,” Trump said.
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Trump also alleged that the US had been taking oil out of Iran, while speaking to reporters at the White House. “I'm just announcing today for the first time, but we've been taking out millions of barrels of oil, millions of barrels every night,” Trump said, adding that Iran had “just figured it out.” He said that this was the reason that oil prices were “$85-90 a barrel, instead of $250.”