The president also reportedly promised to “beat the f***ing s**t out of” Tehran over the “surprise” missile attack on US forces
US President Donald Trump has vowed to hit Iran “very hard” after Tehran launched ballistic missiles at American forces in Jordan and a drone reportedly struck a US-owned liquefied natural gas storage vessel at Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Damietta.
British maritime security firm Ambrey said a drone had struck the US-owned floating storage and regasification vessel Energos Winter, sparking a fire that spread to the nearby Greek-owned tanker GasLog Salem. Egypt’s Petroleum Ministry confirmed that fires had broken out aboard two vessels but did not identify their cause. No casualties were reported.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, and neither Ambrey nor the Egyptian authorities publicly attributed it to Iran.
BREAKING: Footage shows crews working to put out a fire on the US-owned floating platform in Egypt following a drone attack, with initial reports Iran struck it. pic.twitter.com/sFpRt2nfSD
Trump said he had been briefed on the incident, describing it as “a little more of the same” before signaling that US retaliation against Tehran was imminent.
“We’re going to be hitting them very hard because it’s our turn to hit them,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday. “They know it’s coming. They’re asking us not to do it.”
“We’re going to hit them very hard.”
President Trump warns adversaries that the U.S. is prepared to respond forcefully following a drone attack on an LNG tanker off the coast of Egypt.
Trump signaled that retaliation is imminent despite requests from adversaries to hold back.… pic.twitter.com/SMOUuj5qGT
Trump had issued an even more explicit threat earlier in the day after Iran launched several ballistic missiles at US forces in Jordan.
“We’re going to beat the f***ing s**t out of them,” Trump reportedly told Fox News, adding: “We’ll be hitting them hard. They’re going to get a beating.”
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed that its Aerospace Force had targeted a US air base and what it described as CENTCOM’s headquarters in Jordan. US Central Command called it an attempted “surprise attack” and claimed that all the incoming missiles had been intercepted.
Trump said Iran had fired five missiles and credited US Patriot systems with destroying them. “It’s our turn,” he said, while suggesting that diplomatic negotiations could eventually resume after the threatened retaliation.
The renewed hostilities came days after Trump suspended a 13-night US bombing campaign to allow negotiations with Tehran to proceed. The fragile pause has since unraveled, with the US tightening its blockade of Iranian ports and threatening to seize Iranian funds frozen abroad – moves that Tehran considers clear violations of the agreements reached so far.
