President Trump gave Tehran another reason to worry on Saturday, posting a video clip on his Truth Social showing him ordering a military strike on an Iranian airliner.
“Okay, we have it in our sights. Fire – boom!” Trump says, as a US-flagged destroyer fires one with an Iranian flag into the sky.
In his latest comments on the war, Trump dismissed Iran’s latest peace offer as “unacceptable,” while talking freely about the damage the US military has already inflicted on Iran — and the targets he hasn’t kept but may reconsider.
“We’ve hit them unbelievably hard. Look – we’ve left their bridges. We’ve left their electricity. We can take all of that down in two days. Two days – everything,” Trump told Fox News Special Report host Bret Baier in an interview that aired Friday night.
Experts told The Post that a resumption of war is a real possibility.
“I’m sure preparations are underway for a major escalation,” said Jon Hoffman, an Iran expert at the Cato Institute.
“Trump has refused to back down from his major demands in negotiations,” he said, while predicting that “Iran will not negotiate its consequences.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testified to lawmakers this week that the US has an escalation plan in place, should the need arise.
“We have a plan to reschedule if necessary. We have a plan to replace the equipment,”
The New York Times reported on Friday that “massive preparations” are underway for a possible attack. That could include “brutal bombing” as soon as next week, the report said, citing Middle East officials.
The White House, the Department of Defense, and US Central Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
There are about 50,000 US troops in the region and the air force, if President Trump issues this order. The USS Abraham Lincoln and USS George W. Bush aircraft carrier groups remain in the region, after the USS Gerald R. Ford returned home on Saturday.
Trump has repeatedly spoken about possible military operations in the US to remove what he calls “nuclear dust” – the rich uranium buried underground in the nuclear sites in Iran that the US has bombed repeatedly.
He also looked at the attack during the US-Israeli air campaign that destroyed the defenses of Iran’s Kharg Island, citing the recent oil spill, which is important to its oil industry.
“We hit Kharg Island, all but oil. They wiped out the whole island. Except they left the mouth, you know that’s where the oil comes out – if it happens,” he said. The Army Department sent 5,000 US Marines to the region in March, raising hopes of a ground operation to try to take it.
Trump expressed his frustration with the talks that took place in Islamabad and with negotiating the 14-point plan. “I’m not going to be patient. They have to make a deal,” he told Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview Thursday from Beijing. “Now they can make a deal, or be exterminated,” he said.
He completely contradicted the latest proposal of Iran in commenting to the journalists, giving the sentence “unacceptable, because they did not fully agree with the nuclear, and if they have a nuclear of any kind, I don’t read anything else.”
Trump says he did not ask Chinese President Xi Jinping during their talks this week to push China to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, where China gets a lot of oil, which shows that the US can deal with the problem.
“If you’re asking for help, you have to do good,” Trump said.
Iran’s parliamentary security chief Ebrahim Azizi announced on X channel on Saturday that Tehran has prepared a “traffic control” program in the Strait of Hormuz – open to its allies for a fee, permanently closed to US-bound ships.
Operation Epic Fury lasted for 40 days until it was announced that it would be temporarily suspended on April 8. Trump said that he temporarily suspended the operation at the urging of Pakistan, which acted as a mediator.
Trump has repeatedly said that the US has sunk Iran’s navy and destroyed its missile and rocket capabilities. He exploded at a reporter on a flight back from China because of reports that Iran’s weapons are still intact. “You should be ashamed of yourself, I actually think it’s treason,” he said.
US Central Command on Thursday denied reports that Iran has retained 70% of its ballistic missiles and 75% of its rockets, which could leave America’s allies vulnerable. Adm. Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command, called the reports “untrue.”
