It’s blowing up again, and Trump’s not mincing words at all. He just blasted out this intense post on Truth Social basically saying: Iran, get your act together and negotiate a real nuclear deal right now, or the next U.S. strike is gonna be way more brutal than what we did back in June.
He straight-up referenced “Operation Midnight Hammer” from last summer, where the U.S. hit their nuclear facilities hard and wrecked a ton of stuff. Trump wrote something like, “As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL! They didn’t, and there was ‘Operation Midnight Hammer,’ a major destruction of Iran. The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again.” He’s also talking up this huge naval “armada” heading their way—the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group with destroyers and all—saying it’s moving fast, full of power and purpose, ready to act “with speed and violence” if it comes to that. He even compared it to the fleet he used against Venezuela’s Maduro setup, like a flex showing the U.S. means business.
This feels like a pivot because for the last few weeks, Trump’s been hammering Iran mostly over how they’ve been crushing those massive protests that kicked off late last year—people raging about the economy crashing, the rial tanking, and the whole repressive regime thing.
Reports say thousands (maybe 6,000 or way more) got killed in the crackdown, with mass arrests and threats of executions. Trump had been warning he’d step in to back the protesters, even claiming his threats got Iran to back off some planned killings. But in this new post, he barely mentions the protests—instead, it’s all about nukes: “Come to the Table” for a “fair and equitable deal – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS,” good for everybody, and “time is truly of the essence.”
Iran’s firing back hard. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said flat-out that you can’t negotiate with a gun to your head—talks need mutual respect, no threats or wild demands. Their UN mission posted that they’re open to dialogue on equal terms, but “IF PUSHED, IT WILL DEFEND ITSELF AND RESPOND LIKE NEVER BEFORE!” A senior guy even called any attack all-out war.
Their military’s on alert, talking big about hitting back stronger than ever.
Right now, that Lincoln carrier group has entered the Central Command area, so yeah, the U.S. has serious striking power sitting close by in the region.
Oil prices check off up a bit with the news—folks are worried about disruptions in the Gulf or whatever. Some pundit call this pure Trump style: loud bluffing to scare Iran into concessions without actually launching anything yet.
Others believe if Tehran keeps stonewalling on nukes, missiles, or proxies, we could see real action.
Bottom line, it remains unclear what Mr. Trump will decide about using force against Iran. Is this just more pressure to force a deal, or are we actually heading toward another round of bombs? The Middle East is super taut, everyone’s stick to updates, and with that fleet in position, stuff could escalate quick. Stay tuned, this one’s far from over.
Sources:
CBS News
Reuters
Al Jazeera
The Guardian
