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President Trump gave Tehran another reason to worry Saturday, posting a video clip on his Truth Social showing him ordering a military attack on an Iranian aircraft.

“Okay, we have it in our sight. Fire – boom!” Trump says, as a US-flagged destroyer blows one with the Iranian flag out of the sky.

In his latest comments on the war, Trump has dismissed Iran’s latest peace offer as “unacceptable,” while speaking freely about the devastation the US military has already inflicted on Iran — and the targets it spared but could reconsider.


  Trump posted the AI-generated video on his Truth Social account. realDonaldTrump/Truth Social Trump posted the AI-generated video on his Truth Social account. realDonaldTrump/Truth Social

  The Pentagon has been making plans for a resumption of military strikes on Iran should peace talks fail. US NAVY/AFP via Getty Images The Pentagon has been making plans for a resumption of military strikes on Iran should peace talks fail. US NAVY/AFP via Getty Images

“We hit them unbelievably hard. Look — we left their bridges. We left their electricity capacity. We can knock that all out in two days.  Two days — everything,” Trump told Bret Baier, host of Fox News Special Report in an interview that aired Friday night.

Iran experts told The Post that resumption of the war is a very real possibility.

“I’m sure preparations are underway for more escalation,” said Jon Hoffman, a research fellow in defense and foreign policy at the Cato Institute.

“Trump has refused to back down from his maximalist demands in negotiations,” he said, while predicting that “Iran won’t negotiate away its leverage.”

“One possibility is a short but intense air attack,” with lower risks but a lower probability of success, said Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel with the Center for Strategic International Studies. 

“Another possibility is a major military effort to open the Strait,” which he called the most likely, but with a higher casualty risk. Seizing one of the islands in the Strait has “some risk” and won’t end the war but “set conditions for success,” he added.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testified to lawmakers this week that the US has an escalation plan in place, if necessary.

“We have a plan to retrograde if necessary. We have a plan to shift assets,”


  President Trump once again raised threats against Iran’s infrastructure. “We left their bridges. We left their electricity capacity,” he told Fox News Friday. Fox News President Trump once again raised threats against Iran’s infrastructure. “We left their bridges. We left their electricity capacity,” he told Fox News Friday. Fox News

The New York Times reported Friday there were “intense preparations” underway for a potential resumption of attacks. Those could include “aggressive bombing runs” as soon as next week, the report said, citing Middle East officials. 

“We have nothing to provide, we don’t speculate on hypothetical situations,” a Department of War official told The Post. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. 

The video clip that was the basis for the Iran video Trump posted appeared to be drawn from a 2020 Women’s History Month event.

There are about 50,000 US troops in the region along air and naval forces, should President Trump give the order. The USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS George W. Bush aircraft carrier strike groups remain in the region, after the return home Saturday of the USS Gerald R. Ford.


  US and Israeli attacks devastated Iranian targets. Trump and US Central Command pushed back on reports that Iran still has most of its missiles and launchers intact. Maryam Rahmanian/Shutterstock US and Israeli attacks devastated Iranian targets. Trump and US Central Command pushed back on reports that Iran still has most of its missiles and launchers intact. Maryam Rahmanian/Shutterstock

Trump has spoken repeatedly about potential US military operations to remove what he calls “nuclear dust” — enriched uranium buried far underground at nuclear sites in Iran that the US has bombed repeatedly. 

He revisited the attack during the US-Israeli air campaign that wiped out defenses of Iran’s Kharg Island, site of a recent oil spill, which is vital to its oil industry.

“We hit Kharg Island, everything but the oil. They wiped out the whole island. Except they left the nozzle, you know that’s where the oil comes out – just in case,” he said. The War Department dispatched 5,000 US Marines to the region in March, which raised the prospects of a ground operation to try to seize it.

Trump has indicated frustration with the talks, which have taken place in Islamabad and through haggling over a 14-point plan. “I am not going to be ​much more patient. They should make a deal,” he told Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview Thursday from Beijing. “Now they can make a deal, or they get annihilated,” he said.


  “We have a plan to escalate if necessary. We have a plan to retrograde if necessary,” said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Getty Images “We have a plan to escalate if necessary. We have a plan to retrograde if necessary,” said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Getty Images

He outright dissed Iran’s latest offer in comments to reporters, ripping its opening “unacceptable sentence, because they have fully agreed no nuclear, and if they have any nuclear of any form, I don’t read the rest.”

Trump says he didn’t ask Chinese President Xi Jinping during their talks this week to push China to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, where China gets much of its oil, indicating the US could handle the problem.

“When you ask for favors, you have to do favors in return,” Trump said.


  The US still has two aircraft carrier strike groups in the Middle East. CENTCOM / SWNS The US still has two aircraft carrier strike groups in the Middle East. CENTCOM / SWNS

Iran’s parliament security chief Ebrahim Azizi declared in an X post Saturday that Tehran has prepared a plan to “manage traffic” in the Strait of Hormuz — open to allies for a fee, permanently closed to American-linked ships.

Operation Epic Fury lasted 40 days until the announcement of a temporary ceasefire April 8. Trump has said he paused the operation at the urging of Pakistan, who has operated as a mediator.

Trump has repeatedly said the US has sunk Iran’s navy and obliterated its missile and rocket launcher capability. He erupted at a reporter on the flight back from China over reports saying Iran’s arsenal was still intact. “You should be ashamed of yourself. I actually think it’s treason,” he said.

US Central Command on Thursday disputed reports that Iran has maintained 70% of its missiles and 75% of its rocket launchers, which could leave US allies vulnerable. Adm. Brad Cooper, chief of U.S. Central Command, called the reports “not accurate.”

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