'There’s more to come...': Trump praises Israel's 'excellent' airstrikes on Iran, issues warning

US President Donald Trump on Friday (June 13) praised Israel's airstrikes on Iran’snuclear sites, missile systems, and military leadership, calling the operation "excellent" and warning that "there’s more to come."

In a telephonic conversation with ABC News’ Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl, Trump said, "I think it's been excellent. We gave them a chance and they didn't take it. They got hit hard, very hard. They got hit about as hard as you're going to get hit. And there's more to come. A lot more."

When asked whether the United States played a role in the attacks, he declined to answer directly, saying, “I don’t want to comment on that.”

Trump warns of “much worse" consequences

Trump has also called on Iran to come to the negotiating table over its nuclear programme, warning of “much worse” consequences if it fails to act.

In a post on Truth Social on Friday, Trump said, “I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to ‘just do it’, but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done.”

The POTUS also issued a threat about the strength of US and Israeli military power, saying, “The United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come, And they know how to use it.” He also claimed that ‘Iranian hardliners’ underestimated the response they would face.

US president wrote in his post, “Certain Iranian hardliner’s spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!” He added that there had already been “great death and destruction”, but stressed there was still time for diplomacy.

Stating that Iran should ‘make a deal’ soon, Trump warned Tehran that if it does not want more death and destruction, it must finalise a deal with America soon.

Iran accuses Israel of declaring war

Iran, meanwhile, accused Israel of launching strikes on its military and nuclear facilities on Friday and called the attack a “declaration of war”. Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi sent a letter to the United Nations Security Council, urging the international body to act quickly.

The Iranian foreign ministry said Araghchi “called on the Security Council to immediately address this issue”, according to AFP.