Speaking to Fox News, Trump said, “We are going to beat the f*****g s**t out of them,” as he vowed a forceful military response. He described Iranian-backed armed groups as “the cancer of the world” and claimed the operation in Iraq had been coordinated with the Iraqi government. He added that the joint operation was launched in response to attacks on US forces and Saudi oil facilities. According to CENTCOM, the targeted groups had received instructions from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to attack US forces and Saudi energy infrastructure. Despite Trump’s assertion that Baghdad had coordinated the operation, Iraqi authorities strongly condemned the airstrikes.