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Donald Trump has vowed to deliver a “beating” to Iran in retaliation for what he called a “surprise” attack on US forces, threatening a further escalation of the conflict and rattling energy markets.
“We’re going to beat the fucking shit out of them,” Trump told Fox News on Wednesday. “We’ll be hitting them hard. They’re going to get a beating.”
The Iranian attack late on Tuesday ended a days-long pause in direct military action between the two countries that had lowered global oil prices. Brent crude, the international benchmark, climbed sharply following the US president’s remarks — up more than 7 per cent to $90.45 per barrel.
Trump’s comments came the morning after US Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had launched ballistic missiles at US military installations in the region.
It added that the strikes had been successfully intercepted.
The president’s remarks also followed joint strikes by the US and Saudi Arabia on Iran-backed militant groups in Iraq on Tuesday, which came in response to Iranian drone attacks separate from the unexpected ballistic missiles.
The renewed and escalating violence from Washington and Tehran risks a return to full-blown war, while the involvement of Saudi Arabia and militant groups also threatens to plunge the Middle East into a wider regional conflict.
The IRGC said its aerospace force had targeted the US air base and Centcom’s regional headquarters in Jordan with several ballistic missiles.
Trump said that negotiations between Washington and Tehran would continue. “We’re going to let them keep talking.”
The US and Saudi Arabia conducted joint strikes in Iraq on Tuesday against Iran-backed militants that Centcom said had been ordered by the IRGC to attack American military targets and the kingdom’s energy infrastructure.
Trump on Wednesday described Iran-backed militias as “a cancer on the world”, adding that the US-Saudi strikes had been co-ordinated with the Iraqi government.
Iraq’s Iran-backed Shia militia groups said in a statement that at least 20 of their members had been killed in the US-Saudi strikes.
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On Friday, the US paused strikes after 13 straight nights of attacks, with Washington saying Trump was giving “space” for talks with Tehran. Before the surprise ballistic missile attack, Iran had previously launched an assault on US military targets in the Middle East.
Trump told Fox on Wednesday that US forces had just minutes to shoot down the incoming Iranian ballistic missiles overnight.
“Resistance will continue” as long as threats against the Islamic republic continue and the US military’s “unlawful and malicious” acts against “our interests” persist, the IRGC said on Wednesday.
Source:
www.ft.com
