Trump warns Iran it will pay ‘many times over’ for any US troops killed

US President Donald Trump said Monday that Iran will pay “many times over” for any American troops killed amid ongoing hostilities in the Middle East, Anadolu reports.

“Every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

This directive has been passed on to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Daniel Caine, and “every Leader in the Military,” Trump added.

The statement came as the US continued to carry out airstrikes against Iran, with the attacks largely focused on southern Iran. Tehran retaliated with strikes targeting facilities and bases that it says are used by the US military in several regional countries.

The Pentagon confirmed three US deaths over the weekend, including two at a military base in Jordan and one in northern Iraq.

The exchange of fire between the two countries comes despite a Pakistani-brokered framework agreement signed in June to end the war and reach a lasting peace deal.​​​​​​​

READ: Islamic resistance in Iraq threatens to target US interests if conflict with Iran escalates

In a separate post, Trump said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America.”

“He is fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which recently killed 52,000 innocent protestors, and has spent the last 47 years killing American Soldiers, and others,” Trump added.

“The only ones that should be arrested are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented spiral of death and destruction, something that should have been dealt with years ago, by previous Presidents.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has told The New York Times that his administration’s legal department is actively discussing the potential arrest of Netanyahu.

“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani said. “He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court. And what you will find is that is an opinion that is held by many purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years.”

Netanyahu recently postponed a US visit originally set for this month to September.

READ: Iran’s president calls for ‘unity, collective decision-making’ amid escalation with US