In an interview with Fox News, Trump described Iran’s leaders as “professional negotiators” but said, “Iran didn’t get anything from me.”
He also accused Tehran of reneging on a previous agreement, saying, “We had a deal and they broke it,” and called Iran’s leadership “a bad group of people.”
Trump added Washington should be “reimbursed” for protecting the Strait of Hormuz, adding that the United States could become the “guardian” of the strategic waterway.
Trump further claimed the US had “hit Iran very hard last night” and said Washington would be “paid for guarding” the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most strategically important energy shipping routes.
Notably United States on Sunday night launched a series of missile attacks against Iran, as the two countries issued conflicting declarations over the status of the Strait of Hormuz.
At 5 p.m. ET today, U.S. Central Command forces began launching more strikes against Iran to continue degrading their ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The Commander in Chief has directed the strikes to hold Iranian…
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) July 12, 2026
The fresh attacks were the fourth from US this week. The US Central Command said that the strikes over the weekend were in response to Iran’s attacks on a Cyprus-flagged container ship.
Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the US military strikes, describing them as a “gross violation” of the United Nations Charter, particularly Article 2, Paragraph 4.
The article states the prohibition on use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of a state. The ministry said the strikes threatened international peace and security and had undone months of efforts to reduce tension in West Asia.
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(Edited by : Prashant)
First Published: Jul 13, 2026 6:14 PM IST
