Donald Trump warns of fresh strikes on Iran as Strait of Hormuz tensions rise

US President Donald Trump threatened more strikes on Iran as the United States presses for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Hours later on Saturday, Kuwait said it responded to a new round of drone attacks from Iran while a tanker was struck in the strategic waterway.

Meanwhile, Israel carried out heavy strikes on the Gaza Strip after the Palestinian militant group Hamas agreed to disarm.

Speaking to reporters Friday during a meeting with members of his Cabinet at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, Trump said “we just want to win” in Iran and signalled that he expected US military action to continue for some time.

He said the US will hit Iran “very hard” until they can’t take it anymore.

Later that day, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt expressed the US administration’s



frustration anew, charging that Tehran last month signed a memorandum of understanding with the US on a truce but then quickly “broke it, shot at commercial ships, and killed American soldiers.”

“President Trump is not going to stand by and allow this terrorist behaviour to occur,” Leavitt said in a statement on Friday evening. “Iran will continue to pay until they come to the table in, what President Trump deems, a meaningful way.”

On Saturday, the US State Department issued new security alerts for Americans in 10 countries in the region to exercise heightened caution due to the escalating tensions with Iran.

The warnings — covering Bahrain, Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates — urged US citizens to prepare for the possibility of flight cancellations, temporary airspace closures and other travel disruptions.