JUNE 10, 2026
President Donald Trump reacts as he boards Air Force One, after attending Game 3 of the NBA Finals, at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, U.S., June 8, 2026. – Nathan Howard, REUTERS
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump said the United States will launch a new wave of strikes on Iran on Wednesday, June 10 after warning the Middle East nation will “have to pay the price” for stalled negotiations on a peace deal.
Trump’s escalation of the war comes after the U.S. military launched strikes against Iran the previous day in retaliation to Iran shooting down an American Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz.
“They’ve taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!” Trump said in a June 10 post on Truth Social that marked a shift in rhetoric after he previously downplayed the slow pace of talks on a peace deal.
Asked what he meant by the threat, Trump later told reporters in the Oval Office, “Well, we’re going to be attacking them and attacking them very hard.”
“We hit them hard yesterday, and we’re going to hit them again hard today,” Trump said. “And we’ll see what happens with the deal. We were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along. They keep playing us for suckers.”
For weeks, Trump has insisted that Iran wants to make a deal with the United States even as the president pushes demands Iran opposes to dispose of its highly enriched uranium and abandon its nuclear weapons program. Iran has said abandoning its enrichment rights is nonnegotiable.
Trump has previously discussed his willingness to “wait out” Iran in long negotiations. Trump on May 27 said Iran wrongly assumed he would retreat from his demands during negotiations to avoid a long standoff ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. “‘We’ll outwait him. He’s got the midterms,’” Trump said. “I don’t care about the midterms.”
As the U.S. war in Iran drags on, Trump and Republicans risk making high gas prices caused by the conflict a focal point of the midterm election in November. Republicans face an uphill fight to retain their slim majority in the House, and Democrats increasingly believe they have a path to take control of the Senate.
Trump has often said the U.S. blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, which has cut Iran off from significant trade, has proven effective than bombing Iran.
As recently as Tuesday, June 9, Trump expressed hesitance about renewing military action against Iran. “If you do the bombing, you know, a lot of people are going to be killed. Who wants to do that? I don’t,” Trump told reporters, adding that a signed agreement with Iran would be “actually stronger than the bombing.”
U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations in the region, said U.S. forces launched the latest strikes against Iran at about 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday. Military officials described the attacks as “self-defense” strikes “in response” to the attack on the helicopter. The two pilots on board were unharmed and are safe, according to Trump.
Iranian state media indicated the U.S. struck targets in Bandar Abbas, Sirik, and Qeshm Island, two areas near Hormuz.
Military officials said that “the operation was a proportional response to recent attacks on U.S. forces and international commercial ships transiting regional waters.
Courtesy/Source: This article originally appeared on USA TODAY
