New Delhi, Updated 12:33 PM Apr 02, 2026 IST
President Donald Trump warned Iran on Wednesday night that U.S. forces would intensify an operation dubbed “Epic Fury” and strike the country “very badly” over the next two to three weeks if a peace deal is not reached. In a national address, Trump said U.S. forces were “on track to complete all military objectives shortly” and promised heavy action in the coming weeks.
Trump said operations would continue until U.S. objectives were met and threatened specific strikes on Iran’s electric generating plants if negotiations fail. “If there is no deal, we are going to hit every one of their electric generating plants—very hard and probably simultaneously,” he said.
He said diplomatic contacts were ongoing and noted that Iran’s foreign minister, Sayed Abbas Araghchi, acknowledged receiving direct messages from U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff.
Addressing the partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global oil shipments, Trump told oil-dependent countries they could take steps to reopen the waterway themselves and encouraged them to purchase oil from the United States. He added that the strait would reopen naturally after the conflict and that reopening it was not a current U.S. military objective.
On Iran’s nuclear program, Trump said the U.S. was monitoring the country’s enriched uranium stockpile “under intense satellite surveillance and control” and warned that any move to advance nuclear capabilities, even a small one, would prompt a “very hard” response.
Trump also asserted that Iran’s leadership and military command had been severely weakened, claiming that many leaders were dead and that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ command and control had been “decimated,” leaving a less radical leadership in place.
He said U.S. forces had so far avoided striking Iran’s oil infrastructure to preserve some chance for the country’s future survival or rebuilding.
Framing the operation as necessary for U.S. and global security, Trump referenced America’s historic roles in the world wars and addressed domestic concerns about rising gas prices, blaming them on Iranian attacks on commercial tankers and neighboring countries rather than on U.S. military actions in the region.
