ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - US President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to deliver Iran a heavy blow, as reports emerged that he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had discussed the possibility of renewed military strikes against Tehran ahead of elections in both countries.
“Wait and see what we'll do to Iran. We're going to deliver a heavy blow to it. Wait and see what we'll do to Iran. Because we're already fed up enough,” Trump told supporters in a rally in Alaska.
Before boarding the plane to Alaska, Trump had told reporters earlier in the day in Washington DC that he would make a decision on Iran “very soon.”
“Iran is a failed country,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. “They have no economy, they have 300 percent inflation, they have no money, they’re not paying their troops … We’ll make a decision on Iran very soon,” he added, according to a transcript published by Roll Call.
Trump did not specify what action Washington was considering.
Israeli broadcaster N12 News and US outlet Axios reported that Trump and Netanyahu discussed the possibility of launching a new joint military operation against Iran last week. Axios said that the discussions included potential strikes on Iranian military and nuclear facilities, amid Israeli concerns about Tehran’s nuclear program.
However, a White House official denied that Trump and Netanyahu had discussed resuming the war. Netanyahu’s office declined to comment on the content of their conversations.
The reports come amid rising tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and a key route for global energy shipments.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported on Tuesday that a tanker transiting through the strategic waterway had been struck by unknown projectiles.
Iranian state media ISNA said Iranian Army navy monitoring teams identified an “offending oil tanker” that was damaged and caught fire while traversing east of the Strait of Hormuz earlier on Tuesday. The tanker had turned off its tracking system and had attempted to pass through a restricted zone, ISNA reported.
At least 24 vessels have been hit by Iran in the past two weeks in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman.
The developments come ahead of Israel’s October 27 elections and the US midterm elections on November 3. Renewed fighting could prompt Iranian retaliation against Israel and further destabilize the region.
Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, threatened earlier in the week to target $2 trillion worth of “US-linked technology infrastructure” in the Middle East if the war were to break out again.
“We have not yet included these assets among our targets. But if war breaks out, many of these cables, data centers, artificial intelligence facilities, and numerous other sites will be destroyed,” Rezaei told Iranian state-funded English channel PressTV in an interview aired on Saturday.
