President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to end the ceasefire with Iran and take Kharg Island after Iran launched strikes in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, setting off a series of back-and-forth attacks.
Trump said the U.S. would prepare for a second night of strikes against Iran after attacks were made on U.S. military sites in the area.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed Wednesday afternoon that U.S. forces started conducting “additional strikes” against Iran to “further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.”
“The United States in holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway,” CENTCOM said in a post online.
Earlier, Trump said the U.S. may target Iranian electric and desalinization plants.
“We may take over Kharg Island. There’s not a thing they could do about it,” he said.
Trump’s remarks came as he attended meetings with world leaders at the NATO summit in Turkey.
During a meeting Wednesday with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Trump said the U.S. struck Iran “very powerfully” on Tuesday night.
“There’s something wrong with them,” he said, calling Iranian leadership “dirty players,” and “evil people.”
He was asked the status of the ceasefire with Iran, replying that he believes it’s over.
“I don’t want to deal with them anymore. They’re scum ... they’re led by sick people. They’re vicious, violent people,” Trump replied, adding he’ll speak with the U.S. negotiation team.
He also held a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, where reporters asked him about the situation with Iran.
Trump said he’s not happy with Iran, amid negotiations between the two countries over ending the conflict and Iran giving up its nuclear ambitions.
“If we make a deal with Iran, I’m not sure that will stick because I’ve found them to be very dishonorable people,” Trump said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. military action was looking to strike anything Iran uses to “harass shipping” in the Strait of Hormuz, underground facilities where they stored drones and other military equipment, coastal defense sites, radar sites, and surveillance sites.
“Anything they thought they had rebuilt or capability they were using was a target last night and tonight, if we need to, on your order Mr. President, we will hit even more and even deeper because that’s the consequence,” Hegseth said.
Trump added that the U.S. military blockade of Iran’s naval ports may also be reinstalled.
“We’re not attacking at the highest level. The highest level are the bridges ... their electric plants, where they make their electricity. If we have to, we’ll take them out,” he said.
Trump’s remarks to the press
Before leaving Turkey, Trump delivered remarks to the press at the summit, where he detailed the current state of things with Iran.
“We’re doing things that should have been done 47 years ago with Iran, and I just want to say that throughout my first term and over the past 18 months, the United States has led a historic effort to dramatically increase the defense spending and to have equipment that no other country in the world has,” Trump said.
He was asked about why he hasn’t been able to end the Iran war as the conflict appears to be starting up again. Trump spoke about Iran not being able to have a nuclear weapon and their military being decimated.
“I think we’re doing just the opposite. The Iran war has been a tremendous military success, and you know, I can only answer the question by saying they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump replied.
He went on to criticize the Biden administration and tout the recent successes regarding manufacturing coming back to the U.S., and border security being increased. Trump also spoke about being the biggest creator on TikTok and touting the deal made last year, as well as continuing his criticism on what he says is a communist movement happening in the United States.
Trump was asked by a reporter about contradictory statements about Iran, last month calling Iranian leaders rational people and Wednesday saying they were scum. He also was asked about his earlier remarks in which he said he thought the ceasefire was over and if the U.S. will return to a full-scale military operation.
“I’ll tell you what happens next. We’re never going to see Iran have a nuclear weapon, because that’s much more important than the numbers you’re talking about, the prices of oil are dropping like a rock now, they’ll be up a little bit and this will end very quickly,” he said.
Trump said he doesn’t think that the war will start again and the military action in Iran from the U.S. will “go very quickly.”
“They hit a couple of ships, and so we hit them much harder. When they hit, we hit 10 times harder, you know. We hit much harder than they do. We have a lot better equipment than they do,” Trump said.
He was also asked about being with other world leaders at the summit he previously criticized for not helping in the war, like Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom. The president was asked whether if those countries are attacked, will the U.S. be there for them?
“Almost all of the countries have been good. They just had a bad moment. They didn’t help us, we didn’t need help,” Trump replied, adding, “I’ll tell you what I can only say if there’s one word that comes out of today, it’s unification. I’ve never seen anything like it. Every one of those countries, they love us, they love each other.”