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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.
Brent and WTI swung between gains of as much as $2 a barrel and losses of $1 a barrel during the previous trading session. The session highs for both benchmarks were the highest since 24 July.
Alex Croft3 September 2026 11:30
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.
Trump speaks during a Rose Garden Dinner at the White House in Washington, DC, on September 2 (AFP/Getty)
The comments came as Reuters reported that the White House was seeking to avoid a major escalation against Iran until after the 3 November election.
The latest fighting erupted after a month of relative calm. US forces carried out about 100 strikes against Iranian targets on Tuesday, saying they were retaliation for maritime threats near the Strait of Hormuz.
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.
Alex Croft3 September 2026 11:01
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 waterway has become a flashpoint in the renewed conflict between the US and Iran. The latest escalation began after US forces struck what an American military spokesperson said were Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces preparing to lay more sea mines in the strait.
Trump last month also vowed to declare the Strait of Hormuz US territory.
Alex Croft3 September 2026 10:29
Alex Croft3 September 2026 09:55
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.
A trip to Pattaya will be a much-needed reprieve for sailors, where they can enjoy the seaside resort’s beaches and nightlife.
“He’s so excited to get on land, he’s never been outside of the United States before. He wants to eat pizza or McDonald’s. I’m so happy for him,” the mother of one of the sailors on the USS Lincoln told MS NOW.
Crew members of the USS Abraham Lincoln leave a hotel in Pattaya, Thailand (AP)
Pattaya has been rebranded as a more family-friendly destination in recent years following a history of sex tourism. The USS Lincoln’s commanding officer warned service members against engaging in prostitution, a person familiar with the matter told MS NOW.
Prostitution is technically illegal in Thailand, but the law is rarely enforced. Paying for sex is also a punishable offense in the U.S. armed forces.
During the Vietnam War, American service members flocked to Pattaya, once a quiet fishing village, “and it turned into a raunchy seaside playground,” Elizabeth Becker wrote in “Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism,” according to the Associated Press.
Alex Croft3 September 2026 09:31
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.
The rial has dropped about 10 per cent in the past week. The troubled currency has lost about half of its value in a year of tightening U.S. sanctions and U.S. and Israeli attacks that began in February.
Alex Croft3 September 2026 09:08
Russia has been helping Iran to develop supersonic cruise missiles in secret for years, including through the US-Iran war, according to a report.
Moscow has enlisted some of its most experienced specialists to help Iran to develop a new class of missile capable of threatening US aircraft carriers and warships stationed in the Middle East, according to an investigation 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.
Fabian Hinz, an expert on Iranian missiles, framed the programme as a major transfer of sensitive technology from Moscow that Tehran had been after for decades and would require authorisation “from the very top”.
Senior foreign reporter James Reynolds writes:
Alex Croft3 September 2026 08:45
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, above the 10-day average of 25 vessels, Kpler data showed.
On Tuesday, 17 vessels transited the waterway, the data showed.
As we reported earlier, six commodity vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, down from 11 a day earlier and well below the 10-day average of about 13, the Kpler data showed according to Reuters news agency.
Vessels transit the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the coast of southern Yemen (AFP/Getty)
Alex Croft3 September 2026 08:22
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, and touched on further bilateral cooperation between the two.
We’ll bring you any further lines from the call as they come in.
Alex Croft3 September 2026 07:59