Support justice-driven, accurate and transparent news — make a quick donation to Truthout today! 

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the U.S. is going to “beat” the “f****** s***” out of Iran, in a chilling new threat of escalations as the war spirals out of control and engulfs more regional conflicts.

“We’re going to beat the f****** s*** out of them,” Trump told Fox’s Trey Yingst. It’s unclear if Trump censored himself, or if the outlet censored his words. “We’ll be hitting them hard,” Trump reportedly told Fox’s correspondent. “They’re going to get a beating.”

The threat was in response to Iran firing missiles at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, U.S. Central Command’s (CENTCOM) headquarters in the country. All of the missiles were intercepted, and no casualties were reported.

CENTCOM and U.S. outlets framed the attack as a “surprise” that came despite a supposed truce declared by Trump on Friday, in an attempt to return to a diplomatic path.

But Iran hadn’t agreed to a truce, and last week rejected an attempt at diplomacy by the U.S. via Iraq. Iranian officials said this week that they aren’t engaged in active negotiations with the U.S. for a ceasefire. The framing is also ironic considering that it was Trump who unilaterally declared the ceasefire over this month, restarting strikes; and it was the U.S. and Israel who launched unprovoked strikes in February to start the war.

Trump has made numerous........

© Truthout