After Trump’s “Crazy Bast*rds” Post, Iran Sends ‘Remember This’ Message

Trump Iran tension: Tehran posts ‘remember this’ warning after president’s ‘crazy bastards’ tweet

Muhammad Asghar | GlobalBeat

Iran’s Foreign Ministry fired back at Donald Trump on Saturday with a cryptic “remember this” message hours after the US president called Tehran’s leaders “crazy bastards” on social media.

The retort came in English and Farsi on the ministry’s official X account and included a 30-second clip of Iranian missiles streaking across a night sky. The post carried no caption beyond the three-word phrase.

Trump’s original broadside landed at 7:43 a.m. Washington time. “The crazy bastards in Iran have been on notice since day one,” he wrote. “They know what will happen if they try anything.” The post stayed online even after Tehran responded, drawing more than 9 million views by sunset.

Washington and Tehran have traded threats since Trump walked away from the 2015 nuclear deal in his first term. Five rounds of indirect talks in Oman last year produced no breakthrough. A sixth round scheduled for March collapsed when Iranian envoys failed to appear.

The latest flare-up began Thursday when the Pentagon said Iranian naval craft had “harassed” two US destroyers in the Strait of Hormuz. No shots were fired, but US Fifth Fleet photos showed a small patrol boat crossing within 100 meters of the USS Laboon. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards dismissed the claim as “Hollywood fiction.”

Regional capitals braced for escalation. Saudi state media aired a rare 90-second primer on civilian bomb shelters. Israel’s Channel 12 reported the cabinet held an unscheduled security session Friday night. Kuwait’s civil aviation authority rerouted evening departures away from the northern Gulf “until further notice.”

Oil markets moved first. Brent crude surged $2.41 to $78.63 a barrel, its biggest one-day jump since January. The spike erased a week of losses tied to weak Chinese import data. Traders cited “geopolitical tail risk” and thin weekend liquidity. Gold rose 1.2% and the US dollar index clawed back 0.4% against major peers.

Inside Iran, state TV led its noon bulletin with Trump’s tweet. The anchor called it “a window into the diseased mind of the enemy.” Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf warned any US strike would meet “a response that makes the 2020 Ain al-Asad attack look like a picnic.” Iranian missiles hit that Iraqi base after a US drone strike killed Guards commander Qasem Soleimani.

US allies urged restraint. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters in Berlin that “rhetorical escalation helps no one” and urged both capitals to reopen talks. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy phoned his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi late Saturday and “underlined the need for calm,” the Foreign Office said. Japan’s government said it was “watching with deep concern” and preparing to release strategic oil stocks if shipping lanes are disrupted.

The Pentagon offered no new guidance to regional commanders. A defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said ships already operate under “heightened alert” and saw no reason to raise it further. The carrier USS Harry S. Truman remains in the Mediterranean; its scheduled transit through Suez next week is unchanged, the official added.

Diplomats in Muscat, traditional back-channel hosts, said Oman had offered to mediate again but received no reply from either side. “The channels are open but quiet,” one envoy said. “Right now both capitals seem happier shouting.”

Background

Trump abandoned the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2018 and reinstated sanctions that shaved an estimated 10% off Iran’s GDP. Tehran responded by breaching limits on uranium enrichment, stockpiling material now estimated at 60% purity, a short step from weapons grade. Israel has twice bombed Iranian nuclear facilities, in 2021 and 2024, without claiming responsibility. The US and Iran have come to the brink twice: in June 2019 after Iran shot down a Global Hawk drone, and in January 2020 following Soleimani’s assassination.

What’s Next

The UN nuclear watchdog releases its quarterly Iran report on Thursday. Western diplomats expect a further rise in enriched uranium stocks, potentially triggering a board resolution that could refer Tehran to the Security Council. Iran’s president is due in Moscow next Monday for talks on deeper arms ties. Washington has warned it could expand sanctions on any country buying Iranian drones.

Buckle up. Summer in the Gulf just got hotter, and neither side appears interested in sunscreen.