Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The United States launched a fresh round of strikes against multiple targets in Iran, with President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth warning Tehran that military pressure would intensify unless it agreed to a nuclear deal with Washington.
The latest operation began when US Central Command (CENTCOM) launched what it described as additional self-defence strikes against multiple targets in Iran at the direction of President Trump.
“Central Command will be busy tonight because President Trump said we will be hitting Iran hard, and we will be,” Hegseth told reporters at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida after meeting CENTCOM commanders. “Iran has a chance to make a good deal, a great deal to codify what they said they’ve been willing to do, and they haven’t been willing to do it.”
At the White House, Trump said Iran had failed to follow through on negotiations despite months of talks.
“I’ve been working with Iran for a number of months, and they should sign the deal,” Trump said.
“It’s a good deal. It doesn’t give them the right to have a nuclear weapon. In fact, it totally prohibits them from ever having a nuclear weapon.”
The renewed strikes came after Iran shot down a US Army AH-64 Apache helicopter near Oman on Monday. Trump said the helicopter crew had been rescued safely but vowed continued military action.
“We hit them hard yesterday, and we’re gonna hit them again hard today,” he said. “We’ll see what happens with the deal. We were really close to a deal. But they keep tapping us along. They keep playing us for suckers.”
