Trump's vow to escalate on Iran rings hollow amid warnings from top US generals

Trump's vow to escalate on Iran rings hollow amid warnings from top US generals US President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to “hit [Iran] hard”, despite a report that the US’s top generals are warning that a prolonged large-scale war on Iran is unsustainable for the United States. “There will be a response,” Trump told Fox News on Monday when asked about Iran’s attack on a US military base in Jordan following US strikes on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz. “We’re going to hit them hard,” he said. Oil prices, which had been trending down amid a lull in fighting, spiked on Monday. Brent, the international benchmark, was up 2.5 percent to trade at $90.35 per barrel. But Trump’s bombast contrasts with reports that the US is in no position to escalate the war. The heads of the US army, navy and air force, and the four-star commanders overseeing US operations throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America, warned Secretary of War Pete Hegseth that any prolonging of major operations would weaken the US’s ability to confront other foes, the Washington Post reported on Monday. Fighting flared in the Middle East after the US on Sunday launched strikes on what it said were two Iranian rocket launchers preparing to shoot sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz. Iran retaliated by launching strikes on Jordan. Read more: Trump's vow to escalate on Iran rings hollow amid warnings from top US generals Motorists ride past a billboard depicting US President Donald Trump inside a catering container, installed on a building along a street in downtown Tehran on 31 August 2026 (ATTA KENARE / AFP)