Trump says US may be ‘forced’ to ‘complete the job’
US president Donald Trump claimed that the US has the upper hand after it launched further strikes on multiple targets in Iran, a day after it struck Iran in retaliation for a drone attack on a cargo ship in the strait of Hormuz.
“There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started,” Trump posted to Truth Social in the wake of Saturday’s strikes.
“If that happens,” he wrote, “the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist.”
About an hour after Trump’s post, the Kuwaiti army said its air defences were responding to “hostile” missile and drone attacks, while sirens sounded in Bahrain, according to that country’s interior ministry.
Elsewhere, JD Vance continued to reiterate the administration’s triumphant line on the war with Iran hours before the latest round of strikes were exchanged.
“If we make the final deal, then great,” the US vice-president told HBO’s Bill Maher.
“If we don’t make the final deal, their nuclear program is still destroyed. They’re still much weaker as a country, so my attitude is America wins either way.”
Trump also said on Saturday that he will nominate Lance Schroyer as the next director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), succeeding David Venturella, who had been performing the duties of the director.
The president said in a Truth Social post that Schroyer “has over 29 YEARS of Law Enforcement experience in Oklahoma – A State where I WON all 77 Counties in 2016, 2020, and 2024! Lance is a former Oklahoma State Trooper, and United States Marine”.
Markwayne Mullin, the Department of Homeland Security secretary, said in a statement on X that Schroyer “will play a vital role in helping deliver on the President’s mandate from the American people to target, arrest, and deport illegal aliens”.
Key events
Hassan Fadlallah, a Hezbollah lawmaker, has warned about “internal conflict” within Lebanon over the country’s agreement with Israel, which the Iran-backed militant group rejects – and further stated that he does not believe that the deal will actually be implemented.
Lebanon and Israel signed a 14-point framework agreement in Washington on Friday designed to work towards an end to fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Included in the deal is plans to disarm Hezbollah.
Now, Fadlallah’s comments come after Lebanese president Joseph Aoun told US president Donald Trump in a phone call that the Lebanese state “will assume its responsibilities” in implementing the framework agreement.
Hezbollah’s leader Naim Qassem had said on Saturday that the group would treat the deal as “null and void” and described it as “a surrender of sovereignty”.
Lebanon’s national human rights commission said in a statement that no agreement should prevent victims from seeking justice.
“The commission emphasises that prosecuting perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture does not constitute an act of hostility or a political stance, but rather a legitimate exercise of the rights to justice,” the statement said.
The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps IRCG has said on state-run SNN TV that it will respond with more force if there are any more blow-for-blow attacks from the US.
“As we predicted, the enemy is an enemy that breaks its commitments, is deceitful, and cannot be trusted. At any moment, at any stage of the negotiations, it may take certain actions,” said spokesperson Hossein Mohebi – as reported in Al Jazeera.
Mohebi said: “Whatever action the enemy takes in this regard, we have responded to it, and we will respond to it. We repeat: If the enemy breaks its commitments and violates the ceasefire, we will respond more strongly than before, and we stress we will respond even more forcefully. We regard such moves by the enemy as natural because we know the enemy’s nature.”
This comes as Iran launched drone and missile attacks Sunday targeting Bahrain and Kuwait in response to US airstrikes that hit the Islamic Republic, and threatened a “complete halt” in negotiations to end the war if Washington continues its attacks.
Iran’s foreign minister has called for a security framework to be established with the Gulf nations after it struck US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain in retaliation to US strikes.
“We should reach a new framework that includes all countries in the region and without the presence or interference of any country from outside the region,” said Abbas Araghchi – at a news conference on a visit to Iraq’s capital Baghdad.
He also said he would be bringing maritime traffic back to pre-war levels in Hormuz lies solely with Tehran, and warned that any challenge over the strait will “increase tensions”.
He also touched on Lebanon, where the Israeli military said it killed Hezbollah militants in a strike in the Nabatieh area of southern Lebanon.
Araghchi reiterated his previous position that the memorandum of understanding signed with the US mandates that Israel withdraw from Lebanon and end its strikes there.
Iran’s foreign minister warns any challenge to Iranian oversight of Hormuz will ‘increase tensions’
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi is in Baghdad for a meeting with his Iraqi counterpart. The pair have been discussing the latest attacks as well as the all-important issue of Hormuz, according to Reuters.
Gulf states have publicly said that the strait of Hormuz must remain toll-free. For his part, Araghchi’s Iraqi counterpart said that he stressed the importance of opening the passage in their joint meetings and that Iran should lift the naval blockade.
Iran’s foreign minister said that bringing maritime traffic back to pre-war levels in Hormuz lies solely with Tehran, and warned that any challenge over the strait will “increase tensions”.
He also touched on Lebanon, where Israeli military said it killed Hezbollah militants in a strike in the Nabatieh area of southern Lebanon.
Araghchi reiterated his previous position that the memorandum of understanding signed with the US mandates that Israel withdraw from Lebanon and end its strikes there.
Trump says US may be ‘forced’ to ‘complete the job’
US president Donald Trump claimed that the US has the upper hand after it launched further strikes on multiple targets in Iran, a day after it struck Iran in retaliation for a drone attack on a cargo ship in the strait of Hormuz.
“There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started,” Trump posted to Truth Social in the wake of Saturday’s strikes.
“If that happens,” he wrote, “the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist.”
About an hour after Trump’s post, the Kuwaiti army said its air defences were responding to “hostile” missile and drone attacks, while sirens sounded in Bahrain, according to that country’s interior ministry.
Elsewhere, JD Vance continued to reiterate the administration’s triumphant line on the war with Iran hours before the latest round of strikes were exchanged.
“If we make the final deal, then great,” the US vice-president told HBO’s Bill Maher.
“If we don’t make the final deal, their nuclear program is still destroyed. They’re still much weaker as a country, so my attitude is America wins either way.”
Trump also said on Saturday that he will nominate Lance Schroyer as the next director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), succeeding David Venturella, who had been performing the duties of the director.
The president said in a Truth Social post that Schroyer “has over 29 YEARS of Law Enforcement experience in Oklahoma – A State where I WON all 77 Counties in 2016, 2020, and 2024! Lance is a former Oklahoma State Trooper, and United States Marine”.
Markwayne Mullin, the Department of Homeland Security secretary, said in a statement on X that Schroyer “will play a vital role in helping deliver on the President’s mandate from the American people to target, arrest, and deport illegal aliens”.
Opening summary
Welcome to our live coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.
Earlier this morning, Iran has said it launched a joint missile and drone operation targeting eight US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain. This comes after the US launched further strikes on multiple targets in Iran, a day after it struck Iran in retaliation for a drone attack on a cargo ship in the strait of Hormuz.
According to US Central Command (Centcom), these strikes were in “direct response to continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping” and that it had targeted Iran’s “military surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities, and minelayer capabilities” in response.
Both countries have accused each other of violating their truce, training negotiations meant to end the Middle East war.
Both Bahrain and Kuwait denounced the Iranian attacks. The Kuwaiti military said air defenses intercepted incoming Iranian drones and missiles Sunday morning, just after the US strikes. Kuwait, which hosts a major US army base, said it had detected and intercepted two ballistic missiles and there were no reports of injuries or damage.
Bahrain said the Iranian strikes damaged a residential building near the international airport and no one was killed. The ministry released photos of an 8-story building, with the top floor completely destroyed, filled with rubble and its windows blown out.
Iran said on Sunday it was determined to defend its sovereignty after the latest US strikes on the country.
“Iran strongly condemns the airstrikes by the terrorist US army on several monitoring and surveillance facilities on the southern coast of the country in the early hours of Sunday,” the Iranian foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that it “stresses its determination to defend Iran’s national sovereignty” against US attacks.
US president Donald Trump accused Iran of violating the ceasefire agreement in a post of social media and said the US may be “forced to militarily complete the job”.
“If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!” he added.
You can read the full report here:
In other developments:
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Ishaq Dar, Pakistani foreign minister, has reportedly held talks with his Bahraini counterpart, Abdulatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, over the phone to discuss the evolving regional crisis. This comes after Bahrain said it had intercepted a number of missiles and drones from Iran.
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Several Iraqi political officials were arrested early Sunday on corruption charges, Iraq’s state-run Iraqi news agency reported. It said the arrests were based on statement made by former deputy minister of oil Adnan al-Jumaili, who was arrested last month, and “included members of parliament whose immunity had been lifted.”
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Israeli soldiers have shot and wounded a Palestinian in the Qalandiya refugee camp – north of occupied East Jerusalem. Israeli forces also detained two people and raided homes, according to Wafa news agency.
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