Donald Trump’s attempt to suggest the U.S. has the upper hand in the war against Iran immediately backfired after the two countries exchanged fire overnight.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted a U.S. airbase in an unspecified location in retaliation for a U.S. attack near Bandar Abbas airport early Thursday morning local time.
The U.S. strikes in Bandar Abbas involved the shooting down of four Iranian one-way attack drones that “posed a threat” around the Strait of Hormuz, as well as a strike on the drones’ launch site. A U.S. official told the Daily Beast that the actions were “measured, purely defensive, and intended to maintain” the shaky ceasefire that has been in place since last month.
Tehran warned that further aggression from the U.S. would provoke a “more decisive” response and said responsibility would lie with the “aggressor,” via Reuters.
The escalation in the Middle East conflict came just hours after Trump attempted to suggest that Iran was eager to strike a deal to end the war.
“Iran is very much intent, they very much want to make a deal. So far, they haven’t gotten there, we’re not satisfied with it, but we will be,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday. “Either that, or we’ll have to just finish the job.”
Trump also claimed that Iran wants to make a deal because it is “negotiating on fumes” and is “starting to give us the things that they have to give us,” without elaborating.
“And if they do, that’s great, and if they won’t, then the man on my left is going to finish them off,” Trump added, referring to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The U.S. has said that any agreement with Iran to end the war and reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping route must include a pledge from Tehran to end its nuclear program and abandon any effort to obtain a nuclear weapon.
Iranian state TV reported that a draft agreement between the two countries included the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the region and the release of $20 billion in frozen Iranian funds.
The White House dismissed the apparent proposal as a “complete fabrication,” adding that “nobody should believe what Iranian state media is putting out.”
Trump has long made contradictory statements about the war in Iran, including repeatedly claiming that the now three-month conflict would end “any day now.”
Elsewhere during Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, Trump rejected the idea that the U.S. is more desperate than Iran to quickly reach a deal as the deeply unpopular war will hurt Republicans in November’s midterm elections.
“They thought they were going to outwait me, you know, ‘we’ll outwait him, he’s got the midterms,’” Trump said.
“I don’t care about the midterms; look what happened last night, that was the prelude to the midterms,” he added, referring to his endorsed candidate Ken Paxton defeating Sen. John Cornyn in Tuesday’s Texas Senate GOP primary race.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
