Trump offers backing for fresh Iran strikes amid threat of ‘total war’

"In my opinion, we are at total war with the United States, Israel and Europe. They want to bring our country to its knees,” he said.

"This war is worse than the one launched against us by Iraq [in the 1980s]. On closer inspection, it is far more complex and difficult.

“In the war with Iraq, the situation was clear. They fired missiles, and it was clear where we would strike back.

"But here, they are now besieging us in every respect, putting us under pressure and in tight corners, creating problems—economically, culturally, politically, and in terms of security."

Asked about Pezeshkian’s comments during a summit at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said the US knew “exactly where [Iran are] going and what they're doing".

"I've been reading that they're building up weapons and other things,” he went on. “If they are, they're not using the sites we obliterated, but possibly different sites.”

He then joked that he hoped Iran would not build up its nuclear stocks as he didn’t “want to waste fuel on a B-2,” referring to the B-2 stealth bombers used in June’s strikes.

He continued: “I hear Iran is trying to build up again, and if they are, we have to knock them down. We'll knock the hell out of them.”

The fresh tensions come during a period of heightened unrest within Iran after a collapse in the currency further fuelled already soaring inflation, prompting mass street protests.

Demonstrators called for “death to the dictator” and chanted the slogans of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement born out of the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, allegedly at the hands of Tehran’s morality police for her defiance of the country’s strict rules enforcing the wearing of the hijab. Security used tear gas to disperse the protests, but they have continued into the early part of this week.