Iran has taken “too long” to negotiate a deal with the U.S. and will now have to “pay the price,” President Trump said in a social media post Wednesday morning.
Mr. Trump’s statement came after the fragile U..S. ceasefire with Iran was ruptured by an exchange of fire on Tuesday following the downing of an U.S. Army Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday evening.
After retaliatory U.S. strikes for the attack on the U.S. helicopter, President Trump told ABC News: “I believe the response should be very strong, very powerful.”
“Iran is all talk and no action. The Bully of the Middle East is DEAD!!! They’ve taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!” the president said in his Truth Social post on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry accused the United States on Wednesday of violating the ceasefire agreement and sending contradictory messages after an exchange of fire overnight.
Esmail Baqaei, spokesman for the ministry and Iran’s negotiating team, was quoted by the IRNA state news agency as saying Iranian officials would be reviewing their position in the negotiations in light of the latest strikes, which President Trump said he was ordering in retaliation for the downing of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday.
Baqaei called the U.S. actions “damaging this diplomatic process.”
Jordan said Wednesday it shot down five incoming missiles launched by Iran, which Iran said had targeted the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base. That base has hosted American F-35 fighter jets and other aircraft.
Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency carried the statement from its military, which added that there were no injuries in the attack and that explosives experts had examined the debris from the interceptions.
Iran also launched drone attacks early Wednesday local time on U.S. military installations in Bahrain and Kuwait, which both sounded alerts and fired air defenses in response.
The U.S. military hit nearly 20 targets in its strikes on Iran, a U.S. official told CBS News, a retaliatory operation following the downing of an American helicopter.
The targets included Iranian air defenses, radar sites and ground control stations, U.S. Central Command said in a statement.
Iran launched drone attacks targeting U.S. military installations in Kuwait and Bahrain early Wednesday morning local time, Iranian state media said.
This comes hours after the U.S. conducted retaliatory strikes on Iran in response to the downing of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter on Monday.
Iran’s state-controlled IRIB television network said in a social media post that the country’s naval forces had launched drone strikes targeting the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, and the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait.
Kuwait’s army later said on X that its “air defense systems” were “currently intercepting hostile aerial targets.”
There was no word on whether any of the drone strikes had reached their targets.
