The US will continue to heavily strike Iran on Thursday if it does not agree to a deal, US President Donald Trump told Fox News after the US initiated what it claimed were self-defense strikes against Iran on Wednesday.
Trump also asserted that Israel was not involved in the strikes, which reportedly targeted Iranian air defenses and radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz.
According to Fox, Trump said the bombing campaign would stop shortly if Iran agreed to a deal proposed by US negotiators. When asked what would happen if Iran refused, Trump responded: “We’ll bomb the s**t out of them tomorrow night.”
Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst reported that Trump said senior Iranian officials contacted him directly and asked the United States to halt its bombing campaign, which he said consisted of 49 Tomahawk missiles fired at targets in Iran, some of which were only around 40 miles away from Tehran.
Yingst reported that Trump told him the conversation took place while he was in the Situation Room with US Vice President JD Vance and senior advisers.
Iran’s state media cited a senior official as denying that Iranian officials were in contact with Trump in the wake of US attacks on areas in southern Iran.
“Trump’s false claim that Iranian officials contacted him is a cover to evade war with Iran,” the unnamed official was cited as saying.
Reuters contributed to this report.
