President Donald Trump ramped up pressure against Iran on Monday, after the country carried out overnight attacks on bases in Jordan that host U.S. forces.
The U.S. and Iran exchanged strikes for the first time in about a month late Sunday into Monday. In an interview with Fox News on Monday morning, Trump said the U.S. would hit Iran “hard” in response.
It’s the latest attempt from Trump to diminish Iran’s government, as he continues a cycle of bombing Iranian forces, saying Iran is effectively powerless, and then threatening them again.
“Iran is officially a Failed Nation. IT IS DEAD!” the president wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday. “They have no Navy, they have no Air Force, they have no currency … they must be tried for war crimes against humanity!”
On Sunday, the United States struck Iran’s Larak Island after the U.S. observed military personnel preparing to deploy rockets loaded with sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian state media said the attack killed and wounded several Iranian soldiers and civilians, and the country vowed to answer.
In response, Iran fired at least eight ballistic missiles toward U.S. forces in Jordan, according to Jordan’s armed forces. Trump told Fox News that U.S. forces intercepted all missiles but one, as it wasn’t going to hit anything.
Last week, Trump announced in a Truth Social post that the U.S. had removed all mines from the Strait of Hormuz’s main shipping lane and said that “any ship or boat placing new mines will be immediately and systemically destroyed.”