SRINAGAR: President Donald Trump warned Iran on Tuesday against retaliating over fresh US military strikes, saying Tehran would face attacks at a “much harder and higher level” if it responded.
The warning came after US forces launched strikes against targets linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps near the Strait of Hormuz. US Central Command said the operation, which began at 12 p.m. Eastern Time, followed recent attempted attacks against commercial shipping and American service members deployed in the region.
Trump said the latest US action was a response to Iran allegedly laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz and firing missiles at a US base in Jordan.
“If the failed Nation of Iran retaliates for this very justified attack, they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform, warning that a larger attack was “waiting in the wings”.
The Revolutionary Guards, however, vowed to respond to the latest US strikes.
“Severe punishment awaits the aggressors; the United States will regret its new attacks,” Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebi said in a post on X after explosions were reported in several areas along and east of the Strait of Hormuz.
The latest escalation comes amid a six-month conflict between the United States and Iran, with Tehran maintaining the closure of the strategic Strait of Hormuz and Washington continuing what has been described as a counter-blockade of Iranian ports.
On Sunday, US forces carried out their first known strikes on Iran in several weeks, targeting an Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz. Washington said its forces struck Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island to prevent Tehran from planting mines in the key shipping route.
Iran subsequently launched missile and drone attacks towards Jordan, saying the operation targeted US forces in the country.
Trump had then vowed a response, telling a Fox News reporter that the United States would “hit them hard”.
The latest exchange marks a further escalation in the confrontation, with both sides trading military action and threats despite no immediate indication of a breakthrough to end the conflict.
