US President Donald Trump has said that Iran will have to pay the price since it took too long to negotiate a deal.

Posting on Truth Social Wednesday, Trump wrote, “The Bully of the Middle East is DEAD!!! They’ve taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price.”

He added, “Iran’s Military is a complete and total mess. Much of it, like their Navy and Air Force, doesn’t even exist anymore – They have been completely defeated. Iran is all talk and no action.”

Earlier, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said that the United States had damaged the ongoing international diplomatic effort to end the war, after more US strikes on targets in southern Iran.

“Unfortunately, the United States is damaging this diplomatic process through the contradictory messages it sends, its repeated shifts in positions and demands, and, worst of all, through repeated violations of the ceasefire,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said, in a video message carried by Iranian media. “Any diplomatic process is damaged by the use of force and by resorting to unlawful actions on the ground.”

This comes after the US military said late Tuesday that it had “completed” its retaliatory strikes against Iran over the downing of an attack helicopter.

US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees American forces in the Middle East, said on X that it had “completed self-defense strikes against Iran.”

“CENTCOM forces struck Iranian air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz with precision munitions from US Air Force and Navy fighter jets,” the post said.

Iranian media outlets reported fresh attacks in areas near the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, as US forces carried out what President Donald Trump described as retaliatory strikes over a downed helicopter.

Explosions were heard on Qeshm Island and in the port city of Bandar Abbas on Iran’s southern coast in the early hours of Wednesday, the Mehr and Fars news agencies posted on Telegram.

Digital US news outlet reported that US forces had attacked several Iranian air defense systems and radar systems around the strait.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X, “Despite its defeats on the battlefield, the U.S. opted to test our determination. Our Powerful Armed Forces will leave no attack or threat unanswered. Leave our region if you want to be safe.”

Hours earlier, Trump had said talks to end the three-month-long war were in their final stages — a claim he has made repeatedly in the past few weeks.

But after the downing of the helicopter on Monday, Trump said in a telephone interview with ABC News that the United States was responding “in a strong manner”. EIR/AFP