President Trump says he is not sure if the U.S. and Iran are returning to a full-scale war as the sides exchanged tit-for-tat strikes and the conflict threatened to envelop the Middle East region once again.
“I don’t know. We’d win it very quickly,” Mr. Trump said late Wednesday as he flew home from the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey.
Whether the U.S. and Iran are returning to open conflict is top of mind after the U.S. military said it performed 170 strikes on Iranian targets over two days.
Mr. Trump ordered the military to hit Iran after Tehran’s forces fired on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Every time they hit us, we’re going to hit them 20 to 1,” Mr. Trump said.
The president posted a series of videos and images on Truth Social of the strikes on Iranian targets.
“This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!” Mr. Trump posted on social media.
Turmoil continued into Thursday, with Persian Gulf nations reporting incoming missiles in their airspace.
The resumption of fighting threatens to unravel the progress both sides made in settling the war, which began with U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Feb. 28.
The initial strikes killed Iran’s top leaders and decimated its military infrastructure. Yet Iran clamped down on oil traffic near its shores in retaliation, roiling markets and lifting gas prices.
The countries reached a mid-June memorandum of understanding to stop the fighting and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran seems intent on retaining some control over the waterway, however, complicating final-stage negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
SEE ALSO: U.S.-Iran ceasefire collapses amid new strikes as Trump mulls restarting war
“They called a little while ago. They want to make a deal so badly,” Mr. Trump said. “I don’t know if they’re going to honor the deal; that’s the problem.”
Iranian parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a key negotiator, said his country will not back down.
“America still hasn’t learned that bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost-free,” Mr. Ghalibaf posted on X. “Let me put it plainly: if you strike, you’ll get hit.”
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