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U.S. President Donald Trump warned Iran on Wednesday that it “better behave,” declining to set a deadline as the two countries resumed attacks nearly a month after signing a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the conflict.
Speaking after arriving in Pennsylvania, where he was scheduled to address the Defense and Innovation Summit, Trump said Tehran understood Washington’s position.
“I don’t like giving deadlines, but they pretty much know — they know the story,” Trump said. “They better behave.”
The warning came as the U.S. launched another wave of strikes against Iran and reimposed a naval blockade, marking a return to fighting between the two sides.
The U.S. and Iran exchanged attacks in recent days despite the Pakistan-mediated memorandum of understanding intended to end the war triggered by U.S.-Israeli attacks against Tehran in February.
Nearly a month after the agreement was signed, the two sides resumed strikes against targets across the region.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they targeted the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. The U.S. military said it intercepted attacks directed at civilian targets.
Jordan’s armed forces said they shot down three missiles launched by Iran.
Several explosions were also heard late Wednesday near the U.S. Consulate in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region, according to AFP journalists.
The U.S. military’s Central Command said American forces launched another round of strikes against Iran on Tuesday and announced that the naval blockade resumed at 4 p.m. Eastern time, or 2000 GMT.
The dispute over the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial route for global oil and gas shipments, has been central to the renewed hostilities.
Trump said Tuesday that U.S. strikes against Iran would continue in the coming days.
He warned that Washington would begin targeting Iranian power plants and bridges next week unless Tehran returned to negotiations.
“Next week it gets really bad for them,” Trump told Fox News.
Despite the renewed fighting, mediated talks between the U.S. and Iran have not formally ended.
Trump did not provide a specific deadline Wednesday but repeated that Iran understood what was expected of it.
Iranian Parliament Speaker and top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Wednesday that Tehran must remain prepared for war while continuing to use diplomacy to advance its national interests.
“We must always be prepared” for war, Ghalibaf said, while stressing the need to “use the tools of diplomacy.”
He also questioned whether Iran should continue complying with the memorandum if its terms were not being implemented.
“A memorandum of understanding only has meaning when its clauses are valid and being implemented,” Ghalibaf told state television.
“If Iran is not to derive any benefit from the memorandum of understanding, we have no reason to adhere,” he said.
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