'Begging for a Deal':

 Trump Shares Video of US Strikes on Iran, Says They Hit '20 Times' Harder

Washington/Ankara — July 9, 2026

President Donald Trump on Wednesday released fresh video footage of overnight U.S. military strikes on Iran and claimed Tehran was privately pleading for a new deal, even as he vowed that any further

Iranian attack on shipping would be met with retaliation many times more powerful than Iran's own strikes.

"They Called ... Begging So Badly"

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One after a new wave of U.S. strikes hit Iranian targets, Trump said Iran had reached out and wanted to make a deal so badly, adding that he was unsure whether Tehran was worthy of one. He framed the latest exchange of fire as lopsided in Washington's favor, telling reporters that U.S. forces had struck Iran roughly 20 times harder than Iran had struck American assets, and that the pattern would repeat with every future Iranian provocation. "Every time they hit us, we're gonna hit them 20," Trump said, adding that the latest barrage was retribution for an earlier attack on commercial vessels.

Later, speaking alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the alliance's summit in Ankara, Turkey, Trump escalated the rhetoric further, at one point suggesting the ratio of American firepower to Iranian firepower could run far higher than 20 to one. He was dismissive of Iranian leadership in blunt terms, describing them as unwell and dangerous, and accused Tehran of firing on ships even as Iran was observing the funeral rites of its late Supreme Leader.

Trump also posted additional combat footage on Truth Social shortly after the strikes began, following an earlier video he had released calling the attacks "retribution" for Iran's assault on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. The footage adds to a growing library of strike videos the White House has published throughout the conflict, part of a broader effort by the administration to publicize the scale of American firepower.

Context: A Ceasefire Unraveling

The renewed strikes mark the most serious rupture yet in the fragile ceasefire arrangement Washington and Tehran negotiated in a memorandum of understanding signed June 17. That agreement had extended an earlier truce reached in April and set a roughly 60-day window for follow-on talks aimed at ending the broader war, which began with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.

Tensions boiled over this week after Iranian forces were accused of attacking commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, including a Saudi-flagged oil tanker and a liquefied natural gas carrier that caught fire off Oman's coast. U.S. Central Command responded with a large-scale bombing campaign, striking dozens of targets across Iran's coastline, before Iran retaliated by targeting American bases in Bahrain and Kuwait. <cite index="19-1">Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and army launched projectiles toward the two Gulf states and also shot down a U.S. drone during the exchange.</cite>

Iran's Foreign Ministry pushed back hard against the American narrative, accusing Washington of violating multiple provisions of the memorandum, including terms on halting military operations across the region and respecting Iranian sovereignty. Tehran also condemned a decision by the U.S. Treasury Department to rescind a temporary waiver that had allowed Iran to resume oil exports — a waiver that, along with the lifting of a naval blockade on Iranian ports, had been one of the few tangible benefits Iran received from the ceasefire deal.

Casualties have already been reported on the Iranian side. Officials in Iran's Khuzestan province said one person was killed and two others wounded when U.S. strikes hit at least three locations in the area, according to the province's deputy governor, who said a fuller assessment would follow.

Oil Markets React, Diplomacy in Doubt

The exchange sent shockwaves through global energy markets. Brent crude jumped more than 5% to above $78 a barrel, while U.S. benchmark crude rose a similar amount, reversing weeks of price declines that had followed the initial ceasefire. Equity futures dipped modestly in early trading as investors weighed the risk of a broader regional war reigniting.

Despite the bellicose rhetoric, Trump left the door open to further negotiations, even as he described continued talks with Tehran as potentially futile. He suggested the United States had already effectively won the military confrontation and that Iran had little capacity left to sustain a prolonged fight, while also declining to rule out a return to full-scale conflict if Iran continued targeting shipping in the strait.

Iranian officials have shown little sign of backing down publicly. Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's lead negotiator, said any further American strikes would be met with retaliation and insisted that control over shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz — through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil and gas passes — would remain Iran's prerogative, not something dictated by American threats.

With both sides now trading not just missiles but competing claims about who holds the upper hand, the path back to the negotiating table remains uncertain. The original memorandum's 60-day window for talks is due to lapse in mid-August, and with strikes continuing on both sides this week, diplomats and market watchers alike are bracing for further volatility in the days ahead.

This report reflects developments as of Thursday, July 9; the situation remains fluid and figures on casualties and strike totals may be revised as more information becomes available.