Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States was striking Iranian targets near the Strait of Hormuz, a move he described as a large and powerful retaliation after Iranian actions in the same waterway and against a U.S. military base in Jordan. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the strikes were underway as he wrote and warned that if Iran answered, it would be hit again at a much harder and higher level.
The warning was not vague. Trump told News correspondent Trey Yingst that if Iran responded, it would be hit much harder, and he said there would be very little left of the Islamic Republic of Iran if the conflict kept going. He also said the United States had destroyed a lot of radar in Iran's network and had waited until those systems were almost rebuilt before striking them again.
Trump said the immediate trigger was what he called an Iranian attempt to add sea mines to the Strait of Hormuz, along with the firing of eight missiles at a U.S. military base in Jordan. He said all eight missiles were knocked down. He also said Gulf allies were notified ahead of the latest strikes, a sign the operation was being handled as a broader regional crisis rather than a single blow.
That broader crisis has been building for months. In June, Iran was urging a return to the June memorandum of understanding even as pressure mounted from U.S. sanctions and the Iranian rial fell to a record low. At the same time, Iran's proxies were striking Saudi oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, deepening fears that any military response would spill into shipping lanes that matter well beyond Iran and the United States.
Trump framed the operation as a warning shot, not an end point. He said the United States had given Iran a lot of chances, called any agreement with Tehran not worth the paper it was written on, and said the USS George Washington was loaded to the gills. What remains unclear is the damage in Iran and which targets were hit near the strait, but Trump's message was plain: if Iran replies, the next round will be worse.
