Trump labels Iran strikes 'love tap' amid escalating regional conflict

Donald Trump has labelled Iran’s strikes on US targets as a “love tap” after US forces had hit the country “very hard” in yet another bizarre rant.

Iranians, Europeans, and others in the region fear a return of the conflict in earnest after the biggest exchange of fire between Tehran and Washington since July took place on Wednesday.

“It was a very heavy attack last night, and we’re prepared to do another one anytime we want,” Trump said on Wednesday according to Fox News.

“We have technology that's incredible. Nobody has technology like we have. So, we hit them hard last night, very hard. They gave a little love tap, but we hit them very hard.”

It comes amid fears Trump is planning to extend Washington’s war on Iran, after The Wall Street Journal reported that the Pentagon was extending the presence of troops in the Middle East into next year.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is quietly stretching the presence of troops in the region as part of an strategy to leave Trump with open-ended options in the war, sources told the outlet.

Trump said the US is prepared to launch another attack at “any time”, but added that a renewed campaign would not last “too long”.

Oil prices edged lower on Thursday as investors weighed the uncertainty of renewed military strikes between the US and Iran that risk disrupting supplies from the Middle East.

Brent crude futures fell 43 cents, or 0.45 per cent, to $95.2 a barrel at 0029 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 24 cents, or 0.26 per cent, at $90.77.

Donald Trump is under pressure to avoid further escalation after the US launched its largest wave of strikes on Iran in weeks, as the military faces mounting strain and the November midterm elections approach.

Trump on Wednesday dismissed concerns that the war could hurt Republican candidates, saying he believed his party supported his efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

But the president’s approval rating has fallen to a record-low 33 per cent, while two-thirds of Americans disapprove of his handling of the war. Oil prices also climbed above $90 a barrel on Wednesday.

“I don’t think it will be very much longer,” Trump said when asked how many more Iranian targets the US could strike, as the conflict passed the six-month mark.

Iranian state media reported that a US strike hit a home in southern Iran during a wedding celebration, killing two women and two children and injuring 60 others.

President Donald Trump suggested on Wednesday that the Strait of Hormuz should be renamed after him, claiming the key waterway is now under US control.

“Now that we have it under USA control, should we change the name Hormuz Strait to TRUMP STRAIT???” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

The USS Abraham Lincoln has docked after nearly nine months at sea, allowing sailors to finally hit the town in Pattaya, known as Thailand’s “Sin City.”

These roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines have been on the aircraft carrier since it left its home port of San Diego on November 21. While the ship briefly docked in Guam and Oman, American service members have spent virtually all of their time on the ship, reportedly facing food shortages and mental health challenges as their deployment dragged out amid the ongoing Iran war.

Iran's currency has dropped to a record low of more than 2.2 million rials per U.S. dollar, two websites tracking the free market rate showed on Wednesday, amid renewed military strikes.

Russia has been helping Iran to develop supersonic cruise missiles in secret for years, including through the US-Iran war, according to a report by the Financial Times.

The programme’s central objective was to help Iran to develop a special ‘ramjet’ propulsion system that would allow its cruise missiles to fly at several times the speed of sound, the report said.

The Bab el-Mandeb strait, the waterway between Yemen and the horn of Africa, has seen the highest number of vessels transiting since 24 August. A total of 31 commodity vessels crossed that waterway on Wednesday.

Donald Trump has been on the phone with UAE president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE state news agency WAM said on Thursday. The pair discussed the ongoing developments in the Iran war.