President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the United States would attack Iran again “very hard,” escalating his public threats as he presses Tehran to sign the deal.
“We hit them hard yesterday, and we’re going to hit them hard today,” President Trump said at a Safe America Act signing event at the White House. “We’re going to attack them as hard as we can.”
President Trump said Iran “must sign the deal” and that the United States wants a deal that “makes sense and works.”
“Let’s see what happens with the deal,” Trump said.
In response, Ebrahim Azizi, head of Iran’s parliament’s National Security Committee, said in a post on X on Wednesday afternoon that “this war is not limited to the region.”
The comments came after President Trump warned on Truth Social that Iran is taking too long to negotiate and “will pay a price” as military tensions between the US and Iran escalate.
“Iran’s military is in complete and utter disarray,” President Trump wrote Wednesday morning. “Much of it no longer even exists, as does Iran’s navy and air force. Iran has been completely defeated. Iran is all talk and no action.”
Oil prices rose and U.S. stock futures fell after President Trump’s comments, with U.S. crude rising nearly 2% to $89.72 a barrel and Brent crude rising 1.3% to $92.74. of Dow Jones Industrial Average Since that statement, the stock has fallen more than 600 points.
“This is a military operation,” President Trump said, repeating his assertion that oil prices would return to levels before the war began in February. “Once that’s done, you’ll see the oil drop back down to its original position.”
Claudio Galimberti, chief economist at Rystad Energy, told CNBC earlier this week that with inventories currently at such low levels, oil prices could reach $150 per barrel in the coming months if fighting in the Middle East continues.
Tensions rose in the Middle East on Tuesday after the US military launched an offensive against Iran, which US Central Command said was “in response to yesterday’s downing of a US Apache helicopter.”
Iran has not directly claimed responsibility for the downing of the helicopter. Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported that no offensive military operations had been carried out in the strait in the past 24 hours.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
