Iran threatened a “faster, heavier and more painful” response to further U.S. attacks Sunday as the six-month conflict between the two countries escalated again at sea, days after President Donald Trump dismissed the war as “small potatoes.”
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf issued the warning after U.S. forces struck three Iranian oil tankers Saturday, permanently disabling two and destroying another.
The U.S. military said the strikes were retaliation for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps firing ballistic missiles toward a U.S. aircraft carrier and guided-missile destroyer. No American personnel were injured and the Iranian missiles did not hit the ships.
Iran subsequently claimed it targeted three oil tankers and several U.S.-linked vessels in the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation. On Sunday, Tehran also claimed it struck an unmanned U.S. vessel attempting to enter the strait.
U.S. Central Command denied the latter claim, calling it a “total lie.”
The latest exchange marks another escalation in a conflict Trump sought to minimize just one day before the tanker strikes.
“A lot of people don’t call it a war,” Trump told reporters Friday. “I call it a military conflict because it’s small potatoes for us. It’s not a big thing.”
Vice President JD Vance similarly said Thursday that he “wouldn’t call it a war,” arguing that major combat operations ended earlier this year.
The conflict, which began Feb. 28, has killed 18 U.S. service members and wounded more than 750. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has estimated the war has cost the United States at least $37.5 billion.
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Trump has also threatened renewed strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, telling reporters Friday that the U.S. could hit the underground Pickaxe Mountain site “very soon” if the administration determines Iran is conducting prohibited nuclear activity there.
Meanwhile, fighting around the Strait of Hormuz is putting additional pressure on global energy supplies. Before the war, roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas passed through the waterway. Iran has warned that attacks on its shipping and the continuing U.S. blockade could result in expanded strikes against American military vessels in the region.
For now, neither side appears to be treating the conflict as “small potatoes.”
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