President Trump threatened Iran on Wednesday with new attacks, warning they would be at a “higher level and intensity” than previous rounds of bombing, if it declined to agree to a peace deal, which he said was “perhaps, a big assumption.”
His latest remarks, in a Truth Social post, came 13 hours after he said in a previous post that he was pausing Project Freedom, a U.S. military operation to guide vessels through the Strait of Hormuz that lasted one day and drew a violent reaction by Iran, to see if a peace deal could be reached amid “great progress” in negotiations.
“Assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is, perhaps, a big assumption, the already legendary Epic Fury will be at an end, and the highly effective Blockade will allow the Hormuz Strait to be OPEN TO ALL, including Iran,” Mr. Trump said Wednesday. “If they don’t agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before.”
Mr. Trump has not given any indication what Iran purportedly agreed to to end the more than two-month war and standoff over control of the strait, a vital shipping lane which has been gridlocked since the conflict began, sending global energy prices soaring.
Iran has not reacted publicly to any of Mr. Trump’s latest remarks.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday night that Operation Epic Fury was already over, noting that President Trump had previously “notified Congress, we’re done with that stage of it.”
“The operation, Epic Fury, is concluded,” Rubio said. “We achieved the objectives of that operation.”