Trump warns Iran: Don’t ‘f— around’ with US

President Trump warned Iran not to “f— around with us” Friday during a two-hour phone conversation with conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.

“Iran knows that, and they’ve been put on notice: If you f— around with us, if you do something bad to us, we are gonna do things to you that have never been done before,” Trump said in the interview, which was billed as a “radio rally” while he continues recovering from COVID-19 at the White House.

Trump has frequently threatened Iran, though rarely in such profane terms.

U.S.-Iran tensions have run particularly high throughout the Trump presidency after he withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear deal and reimposed harsh sanctions on Tehran.

At the beginning of the year, the two countries appeared to be on the brink of war after Trump ordered a drone strike in Iraq that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

Iran retaliated with a missile strike on an Iraqi military base housing U.S. troops. More than 100 U.S. service members suffered brain injuries, but there were no deaths, so both sides stepped back from the brink, at least for the time being.

The Trump administration, however, continues to accuse Iranian-backed militias of targeting U.S. interests and personnel in Iraq.

It also recently attempted to reimpose all United Nations sanctions that were lifted under the Iran nuclear deal, though the international community has largely rejected the U.S. authority to do so because of Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement.

Regional experts expect Iran to hold off on any particularly provocative action that could provoke the U.S. and international community before the election as it hopes Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden defeats Trump and returns to the Obama-era nuclear deal.