{"id":93371,"date":"2026-07-24T18:38:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T23:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/?p=93371"},"modified":"2026-07-30T04:07:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T09:07:47","slug":"us-locked-and-loaded-for-higher-level-attacks-on-iran-trump-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/us-locked-and-loaded-for-higher-level-attacks-on-iran-trump-says\/","title":{"rendered":"US \u2018Locked and loaded\u2019 for \u2018higher level\u2019 attacks on Iran, Trump says"},"content":{"rendered":"
 By ANDREW BERNARD<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
(JNS.org)  \u2013 U.S. President Donald Trump said that he was ready to launch a \u201chigher level\u201d of attacks against Iran on Friday, as the two countries continue negotiations.<\/div>\n

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said that U.S. forces were \u201clocked and loaded\u201d for those strikes.<\/p>\n

The president said that he had two options available for an exit strategy from the conflict.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a military exit, where we just keep going just the way we are, and we can even make it a heavier dose, and it\u2019s knocking out everything they have,\u201d Trump said. \u201cOr there\u2019s a smarter strategy that you make a deal, and they want to make a deal. I just don\u2019t think they\u2019re ready yet.\u201dIn an interview<\/u><\/a><\/span> with Axios<\/i> on Thursday, Trump said he was \u201cclose\u201d to a decision on carrying out a \u201cmassive attack\u201d against Iran, as the stalemate over the Strait of Hormuz continues.<\/p>\n

A reporter asked Trump on Friday what the tipping point for that decision would be.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe there won\u2019t be a tipping point and maybe there will,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re locked and loaded. We\u2019re ready to go, but we\u2019re talking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier in July, Trump said<\/u><\/a><\/span> that he believed that the Memorandum of Understanding that he and Iran had signed was \u201cover\u201d and that Iranian leaders were \u201cscum,\u201d after the Islamic Republic continued to carry out attacks on shipping in the Persian Gulf. He informed Congress on July 10 that the ceasefire with Iran ended three days prior. Since then, the United States has carried out nearly two weeks of nightly air strikes<\/u><\/a><\/span>, as Iran continues to carry out missile and drone attacks across the region. Four U.S. soldiers died in Iraq and Jordan last week as a result of those attacks, bringing the American death toll in the conflict to 18.<\/p>\n

With Iran continuing to choke off shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, Trump wrote<\/u><\/a><\/span> on Wednesday that he would bomb an Iranian bridge or power plant for every ship that Iran attacked.<\/p>\n

On Friday, he declined to answer a question about whether such strikes would constitute war crimes.<\/p>\n

Iranian leaders have continued to use defiant rhetoric about the war, even as Trump speculated during the press conference that they might \u201ccry uncle\u201d or \u201cgo into a cave and hide.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIran says it will kill one U.S. service member for every Iranian killed,\u201d Abbas Araghchi, Iran\u2019s foreign minister, stated on Friday.<\/p>\n

Trump noted that the United States had killed previous Iranian leaders, who failed to give him the negotiating responses that he sought.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve taken out their first level of leadership. We\u2019ve then taken out their second level of leadership,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve taken out some of the third level, and we\u2019re negotiating with the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are talking to them seriously, but I talked to them before, and they don\u2019t seem to be able to get there,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe now they will.\u201d<\/p>\n

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