Iran claimed on Friday it targeted a US military base in Bahrain for the first time in two months.
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would consider it a defeat if Iran’s current leadership remained in power when he leaves office, while maintaining that he would authorize renewed US military action against Tehran if circumstances warranted it.
Speaking to conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt, Trump was asked whether the Iranian regime’s continued survival at the end of his presidency would constitute a personal failure.
“Yes, that would be a defeat. I would say that would be a defeat. Absolutely,” Trump replied.
The president also expressed confidence in Washington’s current military position in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iranian attacks on commercial shipping have continued during a US naval blockade.
Asked whether he would consider further military operations to stop Iran from attacking American allies and vessels, Trump responded, “No hesitation,” although he said additional strikes were not presently necessary.
He asserted that “we control the Gulf in terms of the Hormuz Strait” and claimed that more oil was leaving the region than before the war began.
Trump indicated that he would reconsider military action “if I saw things going the other way.”
Hewitt had earlier raised Trump’s record of military decisions, including the 2020 killing of former Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani.
Separately, Thursday, Trump rejected the need for further negotiations with Iran and instructed Vice President JD Vance to concentrate on the administration’s domestic anti-fraud campaign.
“We don’t need a deal with Iran. Those days have long since passed!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
On Friday, Iran claimed attacks against American military assets in Bahrain and another tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Bahrain incident marked its first reported targeting of US military installations in the Gulf in nearly two months.
US Central Command said it intercepted two Iranian drones and rejected Tehran’s claim that an American radar system had been struck.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Monday that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei had ordered his government “to end the state of neither war nor peace.”
Maritime intelligence group Lloyd’s List reported 37 vessel attacks in October, the conflict’s highest monthly total, and at least 14 more in November.
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