Trump warns Iran taking ‘too long’ to negotiate peace deal, will ‘pay price’ after tit-for-tat strikes | Today’s news
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iran had taken too long to negotiate a deal on the Middle East conflict and warned that it “will have to pay a price”.
His remarks came in a social media post following a firefight between the United States and Iran, an incident that has increased pressure on a cease-fire that has been in place since April. Trump claimed in the post that Iran’s military had been “totally defeated.”
Trump took to Truth Social and said, “The Middle East Tikan is DEAD!!! They took too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!”
Oil prices rose after Trump’s latest warning, with U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude up 2.17% to $90.11 a barrel. The global benchmark, Brent crude, also rose 1.9% to $93.19 a barrel, according to Reuters.
Read also | The AI market frenzy faces a major test. SpaceX, Trump and Iran will be key.
In a separate phone interview with Fox News, Trump indicated he was moving closer to ordering strikes on Iran’s power plants and bridges, citing a lack of progress in ongoing peace talks.
“I can go on. They had a chance to sign the deal and survive,” Fox News quoted him as saying.
The remarks contrasted with comments Trump told reporters on Tuesday, when he said negotiations aimed at securing a permanent end to the war were in their “last throes” and could be concluded within “two or three days.”
Read also | Three days of clashes show that the Iran conflict is entering a dangerous new phase
In a separate social media post on Wednesday, Trump hailed the US blockade of Iranian shipping, calling it the “most successful” in history and calling it a “wall of steel”.
He mentioned that the blockade effectively disrupted Iran’s trade and deprived the country of funds needed to pay military personnel, while allowing other countries to continue exporting “a lot of oil”.
“Praise be to Allah!” Trump said.
US-Iran exchange strikes
Late on Tuesday, US forces said they had launched strikes against Iran in response to the downing of a US helicopter a day earlier, with Iranian media reporting explosions along the country’s southern coast.
The U.S. Central Command later said that the U.S. Air Force and Navy targeted command and control facilities as well as defense and surveillance sites.
Read also | The US bombed southern Iran after an Apache helicopter was shot down over Hormuz
Iran, meanwhile, said it carried out attacks on US military bases in Jordan and Bahrain on Wednesday.
American helicopter shot down by Iran
According to Reuters, citing a US official, the US attack helicopter whose crash triggered the latest firefight was shot down by an Iranian one-way attack drone. Trump said the two crew members on board the plane were not injured.
The U.S. military said the helicopter crashed in waters off the coast of Oman while conducting a patrol mission at about 3 a.m. Tuesday (2300 GMT Monday). It added that the crew was located and rescued by a surface drone operated by the Navy.
Iranian state media, citing a military source, said there had been no offensive air operations in the Strait of Hormuz in the previous 24 hours.
While Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi did not directly comment on the helicopter incident, he warned in a post on X that the presence of foreign forces in the region could increase the risk of accidents or unintended crossfire.
“To reduce the risk, the best solution is to leave,” he said.
