Trump says Iran is ‘dead’, vows to respond after renewed clashes

SaveSharefacebookxwhatsapp-strokecopylinkA billboard depicts US President Donald Trump in Tehran, Iran on August 31 [File: Majid Asgaripour/WANA via Reuters]By Al Jazeera StaffPublished On 31 Aug 202631 Aug 2026President Donald Trump has once again declared that Iran is “dead”, calling for the country’s leaders to be tried for what he described as “war crimes against humanity”.Trump also promised on Monday to respond to the recent Iranian attack on a base hosting US troops in Jordan.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Iran attacks Jordan, UAE after US bombs Larak Island: What’s the latest?list 2 of 3Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye meet: What’s next for their defence pact?list 3 of 3Can Iran use rockets to mine the Strait of Hormuz, as US claims?end of listThe US president’s outburst came as the US-Israel war on Iran entered its seventh month amid renewed clashes and no end in sight.“Iran is officially a Failed Nation,” Trump wrote in a social media post. “IT IS DEAD! They have no Navy, they have no Air Force, they have no currency, they are not paying their soldiers or police, Inflation is at 300%, and their leadership is in total disarray and incapable of properly representing the country.”Trump has been reiterating since the early days of the conflict that the Iranian governing system is collapsing. But the regime has remained standing without any major defections, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) spearheading the war effort.Fighting in the region restarted on Sunday after the US military struck Iran’s Larak Island, saying it targeted launchers preparing to fire rockets carrying naval mines at the Strait of Hormuz.Iran was quick to retaliate, launching missiles at a base that hosts US troops in Jordan, demonstrating the ability and willingness to strike back when attacked.Trump vowed on Monday to respond to the Iranian response, a move that risks prolonging the clashes.“We’re going to hit them hard,” the US president told Fox News. “There will be a response.” The flare-up was the first round of fighting between the two countries since July.The Trump administration had said it was shifting tactics from military operations to economic pressure.But the latest skirmish showed that the risk of fighting remains high without an agreement to permanently end the war.On Monday, Trump suggested that Iran’s crackdown on anti-government demonstrators is what is preventing the regime from collapsing.“The only thing they have is FAKE NEWS from the USA, a willingness to kill their protesters (now over 100,000 people dead. They must be tried for war crimes against humanity!), and a good line of ‘BULL****,'” the US president wrote.An alleged death toll of 100,000 protesters is a new record cited by Trump. The US president previously accused Iran of killing as many as 60,000 people during demonstrations earlier this year.It is not clear how the US president came to the new number.Iranian authorities have put the figure at 3,117, including members of the security forces, blaming the deaths on what it said were Israel-backed “rioters”.Trump also appears to have combined war crimes – violations of the laws of war – with crimes against humanity, systemic campaigns of abuse against a civilian population.Separately, Trump has imposed sanctions on International Criminal Court officials for issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over war crime charges in Gaza.Iran has also accused the US of committing war crimes and targeting civilians during the war. A strike on Minab, southern Iran, on the first day of the conflict hit a girls’ school, killing 168 people, mostly children.