President Trump said Thursday that he is poised to make a "big decision" on whether to "annihilate" the Iranian regime. "I have a big decision coming up," Mr. "Do I want to go in and annihilate them or do I not?
Anything could happen with me." His comments came ahead of a planned meeting between Mr. Trump and Persian Gulf leaders expected to take place next week on the sidelines of the U.N. "I want to find out where they are and how they are doing.
We have been very protective of them," Mr. Trump said of the Gulf states, many of which host American military forces and were targeted by Iran in retaliation for the war launched jointly by the U.S. and Israel at the end of February. Asked whether he would meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next week, too, Mr.
Trump said, "I may." A tanker was struck in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, causing a fire that was extinguished, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center (UKMTO). "The CSO (company security officer) of a vessel has reported a tanker being hit by an unknown projectile, causing a fire onboard which has since been extinguished," the maritime monitor said, adding that the crew was safe, though the environmental impact of the attack was "unconfirmed." In a statement to Iran's semi-official Mehr and Tasnim news agencies, the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed to strike a Togo-flagged ship that was making "illegal crossing" of the Strait of Hormuz. It's unclear whether that incident is related to the one reported by UKMTO.
Iran has pushed commercial ships to ask for permission and use a regime-approved route before sailing through the Strait of Hormuz. UKMTO later reported that it had learnt of another tanker being struck, this time on Wednesday, Sep. 16. It was hit by an "unknown projectile while transiting outbound of the Strait of Hormuz," the group said Friday.
An attack was reported late Thursday on a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, northeast of Khasab, Oman, according to the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations center. Royal Navy agency said the crew has been reported safe, and that it didn't know the exact time or date of the incident.
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