By Al Jazeera Staff |
US president promises major escalation a day after new Iran attacks and his White House meeting with Netanyahu.
United States President Donald Trump has pledged a major escalation against Iran after the latest Iranian attacks on US military sites in the Middle East.
Trump made the threat in an expletive-laden interview with Fox News reporter Trey Yingst on Wednesday.
Quoting Trump, Yingst said the president promised to “beat the f****** s*** out of them”.
“We’ll be hitting them hard,” Yingst quoted the president as saying. “They’re going to get a beating.”
The comments come a day after Iran said it attacked US forces at a military base in Jordan, the latest salvo in a five-month-long conflict.
Trump’s remarks threaten to once again derail the latest detente after the US paused its strikes for several days starting on Saturday following 13 days of consecutive attacks.
A ceasefire reached last month as part of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Washington and Tehran dissolved in early July.
On Tuesday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it targeted an airbase and US Central Command (CENTCOM) centre in Jordan.
The IRGC warned of further attacks in a statement. “As long as threats against the Islamic Republic of Iran continue and illegal and vicious actions by American forces against our interests continue, the resistance will continue,” it said.
CENTCOM, meanwhile, described the attack as an “attempted surprise attack on US forces based in the Middle East”.
All the missiles were intercepted, and “US forces remain vigilant and at a high state of readiness”, CENTCOM added.
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