“We’ll Be Hitting Them Very Hard” Inside Trump’s Warning to Iran After Three Soldiers Killed

As the U.S. Embassy in Jordan urges Americans to consider leaving the region, President Trump says he’s losing patience with Tehran — and a grieving Queens family made clear who they stand behind.

The warning came from the U.S. Embassy in Jordan overnight: American citizens in the region should think seriously about leaving. It’s the kind of alert that doesn’t get issued lightly, and it came within days of President Trump saying the United States could be preparing to hit Iran harder than it has yet in this conflict.

“We’ll be hitting them very hard,” Trump said. “And you know, at some point, they’re going to say we just can’t take it anymore.”

The president’s frustration has been building for weeks. Iran, he says, has spent months negotiating one day and striking American positions the next — including missile attacks on U.S. forces and on civilian shipping in the region. “I’m losing faith in them,” Trump said recently, “because they do lie and they do misrepresent.” He described being in the middle of a diplomatic exchange, waiting on an update from his negotiating team, only to instead get a call telling him Iran had just fired five missiles at a U.S. base in Jordan.

“I’m losing faith in them because they do lie and they do misrepresent.” — President Trump

That base was Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, and the attack on July 17 was the one that turned this conflict personal for millions of Americans. Three soldiers were killed: Sgt. Angel Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, Queens; 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii; and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas. Four more were medically evacuated. Trump attended the dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base himself, watching the flag-draped caskets carried off the plane — a ritual he’s called one of the hardest parts of the job, for any president who’s had to face it.

Rampersad was laid to rest in Queens on Friday, at Calvary Assembly of God, with hundreds of mourners, fellow soldiers, and neighbors filling the church. Her mother, Carol Acevedo, spoke to other parents about her daughter’s sacrifice. New York Governor Kathy Hochul delivered remarks, saying Rampersad reminded her of her own daughters.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was there too — seated several rows back, with prepared remarks loaded on his tablet, waiting to be called up. He never was. According to people familiar with the funeral’s planning, Rampersad’s family made that choice deliberately. They’re supporters of President Trump, one source said, and wanted the day to stay about their daughter — not become a platform for a mayor who has been an outspoken critic of the war effort Rampersad died serving.

PT: “The family is more conservative and wanted to limit any political distractions.” — source familiar with the funeral planning

It’s a small moment next to the scale of what’s happening in the region, but it says something about where a lot of American families stand right now. A soldier’s own hometown chose, in the most personal moment imaginable, to keep politics that clash with her service out of the room.

As for what happens next in the region, it’s not yet clear whether Israel — which has largely stayed on the sidelines these past seven weeks — would join any expanded American operation. What is clear is that the administration isn’t backing down. Trump has been blunt that an upcoming midterm election isn’t going to change his calculus, especially now that Iranian strikes have cost American lives directly.

Supporters point to Gaza as the model for how this could still end. The ceasefire brokered there, under what’s being called the Board of Peace framework, has quieted a conflict that dominated headlines for years — and the same voices who spent months demanding action on behalf of Palestinians have gone noticeably silent since the deal, even as the alternative, life under Hamas rule, becomes harder to defend by comparison. Backers of the administration’s approach argue the same playbook — sustained pressure, real consequences, and a willingness to negotiate without being played — is what eventually moves Iran too. It hasn’t happened overnight in either case, they say, and it isn’t likely to happen overnight here.

For now, families in Queens, Ewa Beach, and Carrollton are burying their children. And a country that has watched this war escalate for seven weeks is waiting to see whether the president’s warning this weekend is the moment that finally changes Tehran’s calculation — or the start of something longer.