US forces struck Iran hard in response to killing of American service members: Trump

US forces struck Iran very hard in honor of the American service members who were recently killed in the Middle East, President Donald Trump said Sunday, while reiterating that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons.

Trump said he felt "very badly" about the deaths of the US soldiers, adding the United States had struck Iran "very hard again" in the latest attack carried out against the country.

“We hit them very hard again tonight, and we did that in honor of the probably three, as opposed to two, great patriots” who were killed, Trump told reporters after arriving at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

"We control the Strait of Hormuz," he said, adding Iran “controls nothing.”

"We'll see what happens," he added.

Trump said Iran has sustained extensive damage and insisted that it must not acquire a nuclear weapon.

"They've lost everything almost militarily. They've got very little left. They've got some missiles, they've got some drones, they've got some manufacturing ability, not much," he added.

"This is a far bigger job that we're doing. We were doing a little job in stopping them from having a certain capability.

"Now we're just ending it. So it's really not the same thing. What we're doing now is we're ending any chance where they could have a nuclear missile," he said.

Saying the US had "probably stopped" Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons two weeks ago, Trump stressed that he no longer wants to use the word "probably," reaffirming his determination on the matter.

Air Force One security concerns

Trump addressed questions regarding the defensive capabilities of his aircraft, stating that the jet is scheduled for comprehensive upgrades. “Well, it has ... a lot of capability, but as I understand it, in about a month or so, they're going to send it to have it be ... maxed out,” Trump said when asked why he was flying on a plane that reportedly lacks antimissile systems.

The scrutiny follows the US president's decision to switch from the new Boeing 747-8 to the legacy Air Force One during his departure from the NATO summit in Türkiye earlier this month. Reports indicated that the Secret Service and US Air Force advised the change due to security concerns amid heightened tensions with Iran. Trump has previously said that he is "number one on the kill list" for Tehran.

Canada should compensate US due to fires

Trump also said that he spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney about the wildfires in Canada and that he had urged Carney to stop “these fires from coming in and poisoning our air.”

Stating that he has a good relationship with Carney, Trump said the US will help them if it can.

“If we can help them, we’ll help them. But maybe they should pay us some damages or something, or we should do some tariffs," he said.

Smoke from the fires has been triggering air quality warnings in multiple states, including Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, New York and Indiana.