Trump says Iran ‘will pay’ for killing soldiers ‘many times over’ as mediators push new truce

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump vowed that Iran “will pay” for killing three US soldiers in recent days, even as mediators proposed a new truce with the Middle East war widening further.

“Every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over!” Trump wrote on social media on July 20.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also said the president will attend a dignified transfer ceremony for “our fallen heroes” on the evening of July 21.

Earlier, Iran said mediators were in touch with proposals on how to ease hostilities with the US after more than a week of worsening clashes.

Tensions remain high and the conflict looked set to expand further after Tehran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, after sitting most of this war out, threatened to blockade Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea.

Esmail Baghaei, the Islamic Republic’s foreign ministry spokesman, said “ideas from some mediators have been conveyed” to Tehran, without giving further details. Tehran said its interior minister, Eskandar Momeni, is traveling to Pakistan on July 20.

Qatar and Pakistan, the main intermediaries in the conflict, see a return to US-Iran positions of pre-July 9 as a first step, according to the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency.

Fighting over control of the Strait of Hormuz began that day, effectively unraveling an interim peace deal signed in June.

There’s as yet no indication of a return to formal talks. One proposal is for a 10-day ceasefire to find ways to revive that memorandum of understanding, Reuters reported, citing an unidentified senior Iranian official.

Oil swung between gains and losses on July 20 on the prospects for further escalation and detente in the conflict. Global benchmark Brent was trading about 1 per cent higher at US$88.93 (S$114.56) a barrel as of 2.16pm in New York.

Yahya Saree, a spokesman for the Houthis in Yemen, said on July 20 that they would impose a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia in retaliation for what they say is the kingdom’s siege on the Yemeni capital, Sana’a.

That announcement adds to a slew of risks facing global oil supplies, as it puts at risk the flow of millions of barrels that the kingdom exports via the Red Sea.

US petrol prices have climbed back over the US$4-a-gallon mark, potentially hurting Trump and his Republican party ahead of midterm elections in November.

The US earlier conducted a ninth straight day of airstrikes on Iran.

Tehran is refusing to relent on attacking shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, insisting it has a right to manage traffic through the critical waterway. Iran also continued to attack US bases across Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain and Iraq.

The tit-for-tat attacks are getting deadlier.

The US military announced the death of a service member in northern Iraq on July 18 during a “controlled detonation” of a downed Iranian drone. That was a day after two others were killed in an Iranian attack on Jordan, with another service member still missing.

Iran says US strikes have struck bridges, killed more than 50 people and wounded over 500 since the most recent flare-up between the two sides began just under two weeks ago.

Trump warned Iran last week he’d escalate airstrikes and widen the scope of targets until it backed down. The latest US attacks were “in honour” of the personnel killed, Trump told reporters.

A breakthrough is unlikely to happen until the US and Iran can reach an agreement over shipping in the Hormuz strait, through which one fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies flowed before the conflict.

Shipping volumes have slumped and the number of vessels going through Hormuz is now roughly the same level as during the height of the conflict in March and early April.

Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, said his country wouldn’t abandon diplomacy but also won’t be forced back to the negotiating table while under military attack.

“Iran’s actions in the Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf had global consequences and we became a global player,” he said in an interview published on his Telegram channel, underscoring how Tehran sees control of the strait as a source of leverage over the US and as vital to its security.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran continues to send signals it wants to negotiate. He also reiterated the American view that the Iranian government is split between those that want a peace agreement and hardliners who want to fight more.

Kuwait continues to experience some of the worst attacks from Iran. Over the weekend, Kuwait’s main state energy company said an unspecified site sustained “significant material losses,” causing its evacuation and a number of injuries, while two power and desalination plants have been hit in recent days.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to convene defence chiefs on the evening of July 20, a member of his security Cabinet, Eli Cohen, said in a radio interview about the Iran tensions.

“If Iran makes the mistake of attacking the State of Israel, we’ll respond with a might surpassing that of the last campaign,” Cohen told Army Radio on July 20.

The US is sending more warplanes to the Middle East, the New York Times reported, citing anonymous US officials. The planes include F-35 and F-16 fighter jets, as well as aerial-refueling aircraft.

“The Americans keep bringing new military equipment into the region while claiming they want to stop the war,” Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has participated in talks with the US, posted on X.

“We have become experts at recognising these American tactics and have prepared accordingly.” BLOOMBERG