US President Donald Trump has said that Iran took “too long to negotiate a deal” to end the hostilities between Washington and Tehran, warning that Iran “will have to pay the price”.
“Iran’s military is a complete and total mess. Much of it, like their navy and air force, doesn’t even exist anymore; they have been completely defeated. Iran is all talk and no action,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday.
“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!”
His remarks came after overnight exchanges between Iranian and US forces that came after several days of fluctuating tensions in the region, during which Israel and Iran traded military strikes before pulling back.
The US Central Command said US fighter jets struck Iranian air defence systems and radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz in response to the downing of the US Army Apache helicopter.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said that it launched retaliatory attacks on 21 American military targets at US air and naval bases across the region.
