Donald Trump has indicated the United States will impose further sanctions on Iran, as tensions further escalate between the two nuclear countries.
US President Donald Trump on Saturday pledged to hit Iran with “major” new sanctions as Tehran warned Washington that any attack would see its interests across the Middle East go up in flames.
The war of words heated up after Trump had pulled back from military action against Iran in response to its downing of a US reconnaissance drone.
That incident, which came after a series of attacks on tankers in the congested shipping lanes out of the Gulf that the US has blamed on Iran, exacerbated already tense relations between the two countries.
Iran has denied responsibility for those attacks.
After the drone was downed, Trump secretly authorised US Cyber Command to carry out a retaliatory cyber attack on Iran, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
It crippled computers used to control rocket and missile launches, according to the Post, while Yahoo News said a spying group responsible for tracking ships in the Gulf was targeted.
Earlier, before heading to Camp David for meetings with his advisors on the situation, Mr Trump said he would be Iran’s “best friend” and that the Islamic republic could be a “wealthy” country if it renounced nuclear weapons.
“We’re not going to have Iran have a nuclear weapon,” Mr Trump told reporters outside the White House.
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