WASHINGTON — President Trump vowed Wednesday to “beat the f–king s–t out of” Iran in response to a surprise missile attack by the Islamic Republic targeting US troops stationed in Jordan.
“We’ll be hitting them hard,” Trump told Fox News chief foreign affairs correspondent Trey Yingst in a brief interview early Wednesday. “They’re going to get a beating.”
The president’s warning came after the US and Saudi Arabia already launched joint strikes on Iran-aligned terrorists in Iraq on Tuesday following the attempted ambush.
And Trump doubled down on his threat later in the day, saying it was the US’s turn to strike back and that Iran needed to be smacked around a bit.
“We’re going to be hitting them very hard because it’s our turn to hit them,” he told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon. “They know it’s coming. They’re asking us not to do it.”
“They’ve already apologized, but you know we got to smack them a little bit. Will I always hit back? Yes, pretty much,” the president added.
US Central Command said Tuesday that the regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) directed more than 30 drone attacks in the last three days on US forces in the region — all of which were unsuccessful.
Still, despite the plans for additional retaliation, Trump added that negotiations with Iran will continue, saying “we’re going to let them keep talking.”
Iran’s attack ended a multi-day pause in fighting between the two sides after the US halted strikes on Iran Friday in response to what Trump described as progress in negotiations. Iran initially reciprocated.
Before Iran’s attack on the US base in Jordan, Trump repeatedly warned Iran that he was ready to resume aggressive military action in response.
“If they don’t make a deal, then I go back, and I finish the job. But that’s going to take them forever to rebuild,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday. “I could take out most of their bridges in less than an hour, less than an hour.
“It really decimates a country. So those are the big things. And then there’s always the desalination plants, and who am I hurting there? I’m hurting the people, so I’m not looking to do that. I just want, very simply, they cannot have a nuclear weapon.”
Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, who was expected to warn about Iran’s nuclear-related activities in its subterranean Pickaxe Mountain site.
The facility is some 300 feet beneath the Kolang Mountain, not far from the Natanz nuclear facility. As The Post previously reported, the Israelis had intelligence that Iran was moving nuclear centrifuges into that facility.
Trump has downplayed concerns about the facility, but indicated “we’ll have to take out Pickaxe if we don’t make a deal.”
In addition to trying to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, Trump is also focused on unlocking the Strait of Hormuz, where nearly a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil supplies once flowed through annually.
Iran briefly backed off its attacks on the critical waterway during the interim memorandum of understanding, but after repeatedly striking vessels in the channel, that deal collapsed earlier this month.
“For some reason, we can be in the midst of a beautiful discussion, and they’ll come out and say ‘We’re not talking or we didn’t discuss nuclear.’ Well, that’s all we discussed because they’ll never have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday. “They understand that, and we have had some very good talks.”
