President Donald Trump previewed more U.S. strikes against Iran after a U.S. Apache helicopter was downed over the Strait of Hormuz.
“We’re going to be attacking them and attacking them very hard,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. He declined to specify whether that would include U.S. strikes against Iranian bridges, power plants, or other forms of critical infrastructure.
“We hit them hard yesterday, and we’re going to hit them hard again today, in case you miss it, in case you don’t turn on your television set,” he said in the Oval Office. “We’ll see what happens with a deal. We were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along, they keep playing us for suckers because, you know what, they dealt with some very stupid presidents. I have to say that, I’m embarrassed to say that, some very stupid people were sitting here.”
Earlier in the morning, Trump warned Iran would “pay the price” for taking “too long to negotiate a deal” to end the three-and-a-half-month war, including the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and nuclear non-proliferation provisions.
Iran shot down a U.S. Army helicopter on Monday as it patrolled the Strait of Hormuz, though a U.S. official had earlier said it collided with an Iranian drone, which caused it to crash.
TRUMP SAYS IRAN WILL ‘PAY THE PRICE’ AFTER TAKING TOO LONG TO NEGOTIATE
Two pilots were rescued safely shortly after the helicopter went down by an autonomous underwater drone in a first-of-its-kind mission.
U.S. Central Command announced the first round of U.S. retaliatory strikes against Iranian air defense systems, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, which Iran responded to with its own attacks against Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan.
