Iranian missiles head toward two US bases in Jordan as Trump warns of a harsh response against Tehran

US President Donald Trump warned that US forces would strike Iran “hard” after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched missiles at two US bases in Jordan. Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington would increase economic pressure on Tehran.

“We will hit them hard,” Trump told a Fox News journalist on August 31. “There will be a response,” the US president added.

Trump said that US air defense systems had intercepted all the Iranian missiles that could have caused damage. The statement came after the IRGC claimed it had struck the King Hussein and Al Azraq bases in Jordan with ballistic missiles, causing “major damage.”

IRGC claims often contain exaggerations, while reports of the attacks could not be immediately confirmed.

The missiles targeting sites in Jordan were launched after US forces attacked missile launchers on the Iranian island of Larak. This was the first publicly reported US attack on Iranian military positions in more than a month.

Fox News also reported that Trump had described the impact of the harsh economic measures against Tehran as very significant. According to him, Iran’s economy is on the verge of collapse after years of Western sanctions, while the country is now also facing a US naval blockade.

Bessent said the latest exchange of fire between the US and Iran showed that Tehran was “responding forcefully” as new sanctions were causing major disruptions in the Iranian economy.

During a meeting of the finance ministers and central bank governors of 20 countries in the US state of North Carolina, the Treasury secretary told reporters: “They are taking it very seriously… they are shocked by the state of their economy.”

“I would say they are responding kinetically because they are losing economically,” Bessent said, explaining that the term used referred to military actions.

“We will continue to apply pressure, and we have already had some very good discussions here,” he added.

According to Bessent, the coming “weeks or months” could bring a turning point in the US pressure campaign. He stressed that achieving US objectives may not require the Iranian economy to suffer a complete collapse.

French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said at the G20 meeting that “we must all work toward this.”

“The US has a position on how to strengthen sanctions. We will discuss with them whether we can help in this regard,” Lescure said.

On August 24, the US launched a sanctions campaign called the “economic offensive,” aimed at targeting Iranian financial networks around the world./REL