US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the US would retaliate against Iran following missile and drone attacks on American forces in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“We’re going to hit them hard. There will be a response,” Trump told Fox News.
He noted that US air defence systems intercepted most of the incoming fire. One missile was identified as “not going to hit anything significant,” and US forces allowed it to pass through the airspace, Trump said.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said early Monday it had struck the King Hussein and Azraq airbases in Jordan with ballistic missiles while also targeting Al Minhad Air Base in the UAE with explosive drones.
The IRGC said the operation was retaliation for a US strike on Larak Island on Sunday, which reportedly aimed to stop the placement of sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil transit point.
Trump also expressed scepticism regarding a diplomatic breakthrough, noting that while Tehran sought a meeting, current US sanctions were “kicking in strongly.”
Trump calls for war crimes trial of Iranian leadership over alleged protesters’ deaths
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the Iranian leadership should face trial for crimes against humanity following allegations that it had killed over 100,000 protesters.
“They must be tried for war crimes against humanity,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
He characterised Iran as “officially a failed nation” with a leadership in “total disarray.”
“They have no Navy, they have no Air Force, they have no currency,” the US president claimed.
“It is dead,” he said, noting that the only assets remaining for Tehran were “fake news” from the US and a “willingness to kill their protesters,” alleging a death toll of 100,000 demonstrators.
There had been no independent confirmation of the alleged 100,000 deaths.
UAE reserves ‘right to respond’ to Iranian drone attack, calls it a ‘dangerous escalation’
The United Arab Emirates condemned an Iranian drone attack on Monday as a “dangerous escalation” and a flagrant violation of its sovereignty.
The UAE reserves the right to respond, its foreign ministry said on Monday.
The military’s air defences intercepted the Iranian drone over UAE territorial waters, the foreign ministry added.
Earlier, the UAE defence ministry said its air force engaged a drone over its territorial waters that had come from Iran
It did not provide further details on the drone, including whether it was shot down or its intended target.
Iranian state TV reported that its army had attacked the United Arab Emirates’ Al Minhad Air Base in response to US strikes on Larak Island.
“Since early this morning, the Islamic Republic of Iran Army has targeted locations housing US military helicopters and personnel at Al Minhad base in the UAE with dozens of explosive drones,” the army said, according to Iranian news agencies.
It described Al Minhad as an important logistics and air transport hub for foreign forces and vowed further retaliation against US troops.
The army said the attack was carried out in retaliation for the killing of members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and civilians in Sunday’s US strike on Iran’s Larak Island.
Jordan says it intercepted 8 missiles that breached its airspace as IRGC says it struck US bases
Jordan’s army said early on Monday that it had intercepted eight missiles that breached the country’s airspace.
The missiles were destroyed before posing any threat to civilians or property, the army said in a statement.
Earlier, Iran’s IRGC said it had struck the King Hussein and Azraq US airbases in Jordan with ballistic missiles in retaliation for a US attack on Iran’s Larak Island.
The IRGC said the attack involved missiles and drones targeting infrastructure and areas where fighter jets were stationed, claiming “heavy damage.”
Iran FM accuses ‘serpent’ Netanyahu of tricking US into war
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “serpent”, accusing him of tricking Washington into going to war with the Islamic republic, AFP reported.
“In Hebrew, Netanyahu openly crows that he suckered the US Administration into a war on Iran on behalf of Israel. Netanyahu explicitly laughs about how he ‘influenced’ America through 1,000 hours of airtime on US networks,” Araghchi said in a post on X.
“In English, he praises POTUS’ leadership. Serpent,” he added.
Iran’s Pezeshkian says Tehran ‘not looking for war’ after US attack on Larak Island
Tehran “is not looking for war” but will also “never sit still in the face of any aggression,” Iran’s president said on Monday in his first comments since the US’ weekend attack on Iran’s Larak Island.
Speaking before departing for Kyrgyzstan for an international summit, Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran would respond firmly to any further attacks, according to the Fars news agency.
Iran “will give a decisive response to the aggressors” if attacked, he said.
“Instability and unrest in the region are not in the interest of any country and will challenge everyone,” he added.
Pezeshkian arrived in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek to attend a summit of heads of state of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member countries.
Iran oil CEO calls Trump’s Kharg Island post ‘laughable’
Conditions on Iran’s energy hub Kharg Island are “calm and appropriate,” and oil operations have not stopped, Hamid Bovard, CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company, said on Monday, according to Nournews.
Bovard denied that the key oil hub was being destroyed, as Trump’s social media post had said.
“Trump’s tweets are laughable, and conditions in Kharg are calm and appropriate,” Nournews cited him as saying.
It added that the island, from which 90% of Iranian oil exports originate, had been bombed repeatedly by US and Israeli forces in the past, but oil workers had not allowed operations to stop “even for a moment”.
Contractors are currently rebuilding and modernising storage tanks and jetties, he added.
Iran says it downed US drone over Strait of Hormuz
Iran’s IRGC said on Monday that it had shot down a US drone over the Strait of Hormuz, causing it to crash into the waters of the Gulf.
In a statement, the IRGC public relations office said the “ever-watchful fighters of the IRGC’s modern air defence” hit the long-range US MQ-9 Reaper drone with missile fire early on Monday, causing it to fall into the Gulf, according to Iran’s Mehr News Agency.
The statement also praised the Iranian people’s continued presence in the field as the greatest support for the nation’s fighters.
Trump shares AI-generated video imagining Iranian island ‘being blown to smithereens’
Iran’s energy hub of Kharg Island is being “blown to smithereens”, US President Donald Trump said on Sunday in a one-line social media post accompanied by an AI-generated video clip.
There was no other evidence that the Iranian energy hub was under attack. The White House and the US Defence Department did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment outside regular business hours.
There was no immediate response to Trump’s post on Iranian media.
“Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!! President DJT,” Trump said on social media, but gave no further details.
Reuters confirmed that an accompanying video clip showing dramatic explosions was most likely synthetically generated, using software that detects AI-manipulated imagery.
Attacking Kharg, which handled 90% of Iran’s oil exports before the war launched by US and Israeli attacks on February 28, would severely disrupt its energy trade and put huge pressure on its economy.
Iran responded to an earlier US attack on rocket launchers on its island of Larak, about 660 km (410 miles) east of Kharg, with an assault on two US bases in Jordan, Iranian media said.
The return to hostilities followed weeks in which the Trump administration has stepped up efforts to punish Tehran and its business partners with costly economic sanctions, shifting away from military options.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Reuters on Sunday new secondary sanctions were likely to be unveiled weekly in the effort to pressure Iran, with an initial focus on banks.
“We’re starting with the banks, and we’re telling the banks it’s not okay to have Iranian money and to aid the regime,” Bessent said in an interview.
After imposing penalties on the United Arab Emirates branches of Egypt’s Banque Misr on Friday over alleged financial links to Iran, Bessent said the next step may be cutting off an institution entirely from the dollar-based financial system.
“You’re going to see a lot more of these every week,” Bessent told Reuters, ahead of a meeting of Group of 20 finance leaders.
First known military attacks in weeks
In describing the first known US military strikes since late July, a US official said forces attacked two Iranian launchers on Larak Island.
The small island in the Strait of Hormuz near the strategic port of Bandar Abbas overlooks shipping lanes at the mouth of the Gulf, giving it a key role in tension over Iran, maritime security and global energy supplies.
“Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz,” the source added.
In retaliation, Iran launched ballistic missiles at Jordan, targeting two US bases. Jordan’s armed forces had intercepted eight missiles that entered its airspace, state television said.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the attack killed and wounded several soldiers and citizens and vowed a “response and punishment” from Tehran, according to Iranian state media.
In a statement, the US Central Command said it took “limited, precise” action against minelaying forces of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards that posed an “imminent threat” in the Strait of Hormuz. It gave no details.
Amid threats to shipping, the number of visible commodity vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz dropped to five a day over the weekend, shipping data showed.
The actual number could be higher as some vessels have switched off automatic identification systems to evade attacks.
Last week, US President Donald Trump said all mines had been detonated or removed from the international waters of the strait and Iran had been warned that any vessel placing new mines would be destroyed.
While Trump has repeatedly said the Strait of Hormuz is open, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ navy had called those statements “an obvious lie”, reiterating that it remained closed to ships without Iranian permission.
The waterway carried nearly a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before it was blockaded in the six-month-old Iran war.
Iran is the third-largest producer in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Trump reiterates Iran must never obtain nuclear weapons
US President Donald Trump reiterated that Iran must never be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons, describing the country’s leadership as “very violent, evil people.”
“You cannot let them have a nuclear weapon, and they won’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told Fox News in an interview published on Sunday.
He argued that Tehran would have used a nuclear weapon had it acquired one, claiming that the Middle East “would have essentially been gone” and that Israel would have been destroyed, with the US or Europe possibly becoming the next targets.
“If I weren’t president, Israel would be gone. There would be no Israel. And there would probably be no Middle East,” he added.
Trump also said the US is inflicting significant damage on Iran and praised what he described as an effective blockade on Iran.
“We are doing a great job. The blockade has been unbelievable … we are hitting them very hard. Nobody has ever been hit like this,” he said.
Trump called Iran a “failing nation” and said he was surprised when Tehran began targeting Gulf countries at the start of the war.
“Everybody was shocked. I was surprised,” he said, adding that he believed the attacks caused Iran to lose support.
Trump also accused Democrats of wanting the US to lose its wars against Iran and Venezuela, adding that would not happen because the country is “absolutely winning easily.”
US strikes on Larak Island
Earlier on Sunday, US forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island, marking the first strikes on Iranian territory since late July, a US official told Axios.
The operation targeted systems allegedly being prepared to launch rockets carrying sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz.
The IRGC said several fighters and civilians were killed and injured in the strike and vowed to respond.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency said preliminary information suggested the attack was carried out by drones.
Tensions between Tehran and Washington have remained high since the war began with strikes on Iran in late February. Although a framework deal was signed in June through Pakistani and Qatari mediation, in July the US began a two-week bombing campaign and reimposed a naval blockade after differences over navigation in the strait.
