Trump Says U.S. Will Strike Iran Hard Today, Reveals Secret Operation Against Tehran

U.S. President Donald Trump said this evening that the United States is expected to attack Iran again, today. "We are going to attack them very hard today," he said at the White House amid the mutual threats and continued tensions with Tehran. "We were very close to a deal, but they keep dragging us along," the president explained as the reason for the intended strike.

In a surprising moment during his statement, Trump revealed that recently, without the Iranians knowing, according to him, the United States seized 22 ships carrying millions of barrels of Iranian oil. "Iran did not know about this until this moment," he said. "Now they will have to pay the price."

Earlier, Trump issued a harsh message in which he wrote: "It took them too long to negotiate a deal that was great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!"

He later referred to the state of the Iranian military and claimed that "much of it, like their navy and air force, no longer even exists, they have been totally defeated." He also wrote that Iran is "just talking," and added: "The Middle East bully is DEAD!!!" Trump also told Fox News that he is close to ordering additional strikes on power stations and bridges in Iran.

Iran’s president responded to the American threats and warned against harm to civilian infrastructure, saying that "vital infrastructure is the lifelines of the public." According to him, threats against transportation, electricity and water networks "are not a show of strength, but a sign of despair in the face of a nation’s will." He also stressed that Iran "will stand firm against any pressure and threat."

Speaker of the Iranian parliament Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf responded to the threats and said that "any aggression against Iran will receive a firm and immediate response." According to him, "despite the deaths of commanders and scientists, the country's defense and deterrence capabilities have not diminished."

As tensions between Iran and the United States continue to escalate, Tehran is trying to project a dual message, an outstretched hand for negotiations, but also a clenched fist. Senior regime figures accuse the Trump administration of sabotaging diplomatic efforts and make clear that they will not yield to American pressure. While diplomatic contacts around Iran continue behind the scenes, Tehran says diplomacy and military force are not separate tracks, but two complementary tools.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said: "The diplomatic process does not take place in a vacuum. To advance any negotiation or diplomatic process, a minimal space is needed to advance the work of diplomacy." Baghaei attacked Washington and accused it of "harming this process with mixed messages, shifts in positions, repeated demands and repeated violations of the ceasefire. The Zionist regime is also harming this process with repeated violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon. Any diplomatic process is harmed by the use of force and illegal actions."

According to him, "diplomacy and the battlefield are not two separate things. Together, they are a tool for safeguarding Iran's interests and national security. Wherever needed, our armed forces will respond firmly to the enemy."

Against the backdrop of security tensions and regional efforts, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian tried to convey a message of resilience in the face of outside pressure, alongside a desire to break out of the ongoing cycle of confrontation. "We must get out of the situation of 'no war and no peace'," he stressed. "War is certainly not in the country's interest. If they want to attack, we will not bow down. Let them dream about it. Our Iran will not surrender to its enemies."

In the conservative Iranian newspaper Kayhan, which is considered a mouthpiece of the regime, a forceful vision is presented. An article published this morning claimed that Iran can no longer rely on legal mechanisms or international agreements to secure its rights, and that the central lesson from the confrontation with the United States is that "the only language Washington understands is the language of force."

It was also written that Iran should adopt what is called the "Hormuz trigger mechanism," a concept under which the Strait of Hormuz would become a strategic deterrent tool that would ensure compliance with commitments toward it. It was claimed that until now, U.S. withdrawals from agreements and the imposition of sanctions have not exacted a real price from the United States, but using the Strait of Hormuz as leverage would change the equation and shift the consequences directly to "the pulse of the world's energy."

According to Kayhan, delays in decision-making and giving opportunities for negotiations allow the enemy, in their words, to avoid paying a real price. "The Strait of Hormuz functions like a button to stop the flow of global energy," they explained. In their view, just as the United States is able to exert pressure through its control of the global financial system, Iran can, through a single operational decision, stop the global flow of energy and exert counterpressure. "Control of the Strait of Hormuz may turn Iran from a country under sanctions pressure into a country capable of influencing the entire global energy supply chain."