Trump says US struck Iran again to honor fallen soldiers

US forces struck Iran for the ninth consecutive day on Sunday (local time) as President Donald Trump said he ordered the attacks to honor American service members killed in recent Iranian strikes.

Trump made the remarks after attending the World Cup final in New Jersey, speaking to reporters upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews near Washington. He said he was "very sad" about the loss of American lives, and went on to say "those great patriots were out there fighting to keep Iran from having nuclear weapons" and that "Iran has been hit very, very hard and has lost almost everything militarily."

He added that "we control the (Hormuz) Strait and they control nothing." He then said "on Monday night, we hit Iran very hard again," describing the strikes as a tribute to the three fallen service members.

Just before Trump's remarks, US Central Command announced on social media platform X that it had begun striking Iran at 7 p.m. Eastern time that day. The strikes marked the ninth consecutive day of US attacks on Iran.

Since the first American casualties following a recent truce, US forces have signaled an escalation in the intensity of their operations, using the word "retribution" to describe the strikes.

Two US soldiers stationed in Jordan were killed Thursday in Iranian missile and drone strikes, and a third service member died Sunday in Iraq while attempting to control and detonate an unexploded Iranian drone.

Meanwhile, Trump described his conversation with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the World Cup final, saying he told him: "We have to stop the fires from spreading over and polluting our air."

He said he has "a good relationship with Mark Carney, but the fires over there have to be stopped," adding: "We can help if we can, but maybe they should pay us damages or something, or we should put tariffs on."

Earlier, Trump had said on social media that Canada should face additional tariffs in connection with the severe air pollution affecting the US East Coast from Canadian wildfire smoke.

On the question of whether the Air Force One gifted by Qatar lacks a missile defense system, Trump said he would "send it in about a month to get it upgraded to maximum performance," adding that it would "take about a month."