Iran's issues chilling five-word warning as Trump makes horror 'wiped out' threat

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The uneasy standoff between the United States and Iran took another sharp turn this week, with American forces striking a string of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets on Tuesday. It's the latest chapter in a conflict that's been simmering for about six months now one that's already pushed global energy prices higher and put a dent in President Trump's approval numbers back home.

US Central Command confirmed the operation began around midday Eastern time, framing it as retaliation for a string of recent IRGC actions: attempted attacks on commercial vessels moving through the Strait of Hormuz, plus threats against American service members based in the region. The timing wasn't random either the strikes followed a weekend exchange of fire, the first of its kind since July, and came a day after two tankers were reportedly struck as they tried to leave the Strait, a waterway Iran has largely choked off to shipping.

Explosions Reported Across Southern Iran

In the hours after the strikes, reports of blasts started coming in from multiple points along Iran's southern coast. State broadcasters pointed to explosions on Qeshm Island, near the northern edge of the Strait of Hormuz, while the state-affiliated Nour News outlet reported blasts hitting the port cities of Bandar Abbas and Chabahar. IRNA, Iran's official news agency, added Jask and Sirik to the list, and separate reports indicated a civilian airport in Jiroft, in the country's south, had also been hit.

Brent crude, which was already trending upward that day, climbed further once news of the strikes broke a reminder of just how sensitive oil markets remain to any sign of trouble in the Gulf.

Trump's Warning: "It Will Not Be the Biggest Attack of Them All"

President Trump wasted no time making his position clear. Posting on Truth Social, he cautioned that if Iran hit back, the US response would come "at a much harder and higher level" — and hinted that Tuesday's operation wasn't even the ceiling of what Washington was prepared to do. "That is waiting in the wings," he wrote, adding a blunt prediction that if things escalated further, "there will be very little left of the Islamic Republic of Iran."

In a separate interview with Fox News' Trey Yingst, Trump doubled down, warning that a third round would leave Iran "totally wiped out as a country."

Tehran Fires Back Rhetorically, For Now

Iran wasn't about to let the threats go unanswered. An IRGC spokesperson, Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi, told Tasnim News Agency that "severe punishment awaits the aggressors" and that the US "will regret its new attacks." An unnamed Iranian military official went further, promising that Iran's armed forces would respond "decisively and comprehensively" to any assault on its territory or interests.

Despite the tough talk, Tehran hasn't launched a counterstrike as of this writing. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf did warn that Iran would respond militarily if Washington intensified what he called its "siege," and separately threatened that if the US tried to block Iran from exporting oil through the Gulf, no one else would be able to either.

A Diplomatic Door Still Cracked Open

Interestingly, just before the latest strikes, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signaled some willingness to de-escalate. He said Tehran would honor the terms of a memorandum of understanding reached back in June but only if Washington did the same first. It's a modest opening, though one that's likely to get harder to walk through the longer the strikes continue.

Meanwhile, economic pressure is building on a separate front. At a G20 finance meeting in North Carolina, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington was weighing new sanctions targeting airline leasing companies and other firms doing business with the IRGC, vowing "zero tolerance" and a plan to "economically asphyxiate" the regime.

For now, the region remains on edge, with the US Embassy in Qatar urging Americans in the Middle East to stay alert as the standoff shows no signs of cooling off.

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