US president Donald Trump has warned that Iran has “some evil intentions”, repeating his insistence that the regime must not have a nuclear weapon.
“We’re doing very well against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said. Hinting that Tehran wanted to make a deal, he added: “They need more of the same. They’re not ready yet. They got some evil intentions. We cannot let them have a nuclear weapon.”
Earlier, the president said he was seriously considering restarting major combat operations in Iran, including strikes that would be bigger than the ones carried out earlier this year.
He told Axios: “They haven’t received enough pain yet.”
He has already threatened a “major military punishment” of Iran after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels bombed two Saudi oil tankers off the coast of Saudi Arabia.
The attacks threaten to further disrupt oil supply as the Houthis warn they will cut off the Bab al-Mandab strait, a critical oil waterway.
The US military said it had carried out a 12th straight night of strikes against Iran in the early hours of Thursday, including the first use of B-1 long-range bombers in weeks.
