President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social Wednesday that, "I wonder what would happen if we 'finished off' what’s left of the Iranian Terror State, and let the Countries that use it, we don’t, be responsible for the so called 'Straight?'"
"That would get some of our non-responsive 'Allies' in gear, and fast!!!" the president added.
Trump sent a message to NATO on Sunday to stand with the U.S. for defense of the Strait of Hormuz or face a "very bad" future.
"It's only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there," Trump told The Financial Times. "If there’s no response, or if it’s a negative response, I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO."
"The United States has been informed by most of our NATO ‘Allies’ that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon," the president also said in a Truth Social post on Tuesday.
Fox News Digital's Eric Mack and Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that, “NATO allies benefit far more from the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz than the United States does.”
“As you know, thanks to this president's energy agenda, we are a net exporter of oil. We have enough resources here at home for our people, and that's a good thing thanks to President Trump,” she added.
“The strait opening is obviously good for America because it will stabilize the global oil industry. It will bring prices down again, but it greatly benefits Europe and our allies in NATO. And the president wants to see them do more,” Leavitt also said.
Trump had sent a message to NATO on Sunday to stand with the U.S. for defense of the Strait of Hormuz or face a "very bad" future.
Iran’s stranglehold over the vital waterway has grown concerns over the regime’s threats to oil tankers.
Fox News Digital’s Stephen Sorace and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Video footage captured the fiery aftermath of a ballistic missile strike that hit Ramat Gan, a neighborhood east of Tel Aviv, overnight Tuesday, killing at least two people, according to Israeli officials.
The footage shows a car engulfed in flames, with wreckage scattered across the street as emergency responders assess the scene and ambulance sirens sound in the background.
The missile was launched by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which said it targeted central Israel to avenge the killing of Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and one of the country’s most powerful figures.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it launched Khorramshahr-4 and Qadr multiple-warhead missiles, which it claims have an increased chance of evading missile defense systems and can overwhelm radar tracking.
Israel said the two victims killed in the overnight strike were a couple in their 70s.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
{{#rendered}}Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino pushed back forcefully Tuesday against former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent’s claim that Iran posed no imminent threat, arguing that the intelligence told a very different story.
"I don't know at what point you thought this wasn't an imminent threat after you've read a lot of the stuff I read, [and] by the way, that's just the open store stuff we can talk about on the air," Bongino said on "The Ingraham Angle."
"The president, I promise you, has a bevy of material that… if he told you right now, you would come to the imminent threat conclusion in a snap."
Kent resigned Tuesday in protest of the war with Iran, writing on X that he believed the U.S. started the conflict "due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby" and that he could not support the effort "in good conscience."
His claim that Iran posed "no imminent threat" to the U.S. drew ire from other Trump administration officials, including the president himself, who fired back against the claim in the Oval Office on Tuesday.
"When somebody is working with us that says they didn't think Iran was a threat: We don't want those people…" President Donald Trump said.
"Iran was a tremendous threat, and virtually every NATO nation agreed," he concluded.
A senior Israeli official told Fox News on Wednesday that Iran’s Minister of Intelligence Esmaeil Khatib, who was killed overnight in a precision strike, previously survived an attack that eliminated dozens of Iranian leaders.
The official said the strike against Khatib was enabled by a joint U.S.-Israeli intelligence effort and described Khatib as a central player in plots targeting American officials.
"This man had American blood on his hands. His network specifically targeted current and former U.S. officials, including President Donald Trump," the official added.
Khatib had previously survived a sweeping strike on Iran’s senior leadership at the "Defense Council" compound in Tehran during the opening phase of Operation Epic Fury, where more than 40 Iranian leaders were killed in roughly 40 seconds, according to the official.
He was reportedly the only person to survive the initial attack.
"Today, he met the fate of his combatant comrades," the official told Fox News.
Fox News' Trey Yingst contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that, "Remember, for all of those absolute 'fools' out there, Iran is considered, by everyone, to be the NUMBER ONE STATE SPONSOR OF TERROR."
"We are rapidly putting them out of business!" Trump added in a message on Truth Social.
"The Iranian regime is evil. It proudly killed Americans, waged war against our country, and openly threatened us all the way up to the launch of Operation Epic Fury," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday.
A resolution passed in the House earlier this month also said the Islamic Republic of Iran "remains the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism and provides substantial financial and military support to groups including Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis."
{{#rendered}}The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia said they repelled fresh attacks as Iran continues to fire at its Gulf neighbors in response to joint U.S.-Israeli military action against the regime.
The UAE said on Wednesday that its aerial defense systems "engaged 13 ballistic missiles and 27 UAVs launched from Iran."
"Since the onset of the blatant Iranian aggression, UAE air defenses have engaged 327 ballistic missiles, 15 cruise missiles and 1,699 UAVs," it added.
Saudi Arabia shot down a ballistic missile targeting the area of the Prince Sultan Air Base, which hosts American forces and aircraft, and two drones targeting Riyadh's diplomatic quarter, which houses the U.S. Embassy and other foreign missions, according to The Associated Press.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Israel Defense Forces released a video Wednesday showing a strike on a “Hezbollah terrorist cell” in southern Lebanon as tensions remain high during the conflict with Iran.
“IDF troops identified a Hezbollah terrorist cell unloading weapons, including an RPG, from a vehicle in southern Lebanon, with the intent of attacking IDF soldiers,” the IDF wrote on X.
A video depicted individuals dropping what the IDF said were weapons on the side of a road in Lebanon. The clip ended with an aerial strike.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said Tuesday that U.S. forces struck Iranian missile sites along the country’s coastline near the Strait of Hormuz using powerful deep-penetrating munitions.
“Hours ago, U.S. forces successfully employed multiple 5,000-pound deep penetrator munitions on hardened Iranian missile sites,” CENTCOM said in a post on X.
The military said the targeted sites housed anti-ship cruise missiles that posed a threat to global shipping through the critical waterway.
“The Iranian anti-ship cruise missiles in these sites posed a risk to international shipping in the strait,” the command said.
Deep penetrator weapons, often referred to as “bunker busters," are designed to cut through hardened or underground targets before detonating.
The strikes come as the Strait of Hormuz remains a focal point of the conflict, with growing concerns over threats to oil tankers.
{{#rendered}}Iran’s Minister of Intelligence Esmaeil Khatib was killed overnight in a precision strike, a senior Israeli official told Fox News.
Khatib was responsible for overseeing Iran’s entire global terror apparatus, including sleeper cells in locations around the world. His targeting was a joint U.S. and Israeli effort on the intelligence front.
“This man had American blood on his hands. His network specifically targeted current and former U.S. officials, including President Donald Trump,” the official added.
The U.S. government had been offering a reward for information on Khatib.
"Under this reward offer, RFJ is seeking information on the following individuals," rewardsforjustice.net notes, including Khatib in the list.
Fox News Digital's Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report
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