Trump’s threat of more attacks

President Donald Trump has threatened to hit dozens of targets in Iran “very fast and very hard” if it retaliates for the killing of the head of its elite Quds Force.

The series of tweets came as the White House sent to Congress a formal notification under the War Powers Act of the drone strike on General Qassem Soleimani.

US law requires notification within 48 hours of the introduction of American forces into an armed conflict that could lead to war.

The notification was classified and it was not known if a public version would be released.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the classified document “suggests Congress and the American people are being left in the dark about our national security”.

Mr Trump had also tweeted that his administration had already targeted 52 Iranian sites, “some at a very high level and important to Iran and the Iranian culture”.

He linked the number of sites to the number of hostages, also 52, held by Iran for nearly 15 months after protesters overran the US embassy in Tehran in 1979.

Mr Trump tweeted: “Iran is talking very boldly about targeting certain USA assets as revenge for our ridding the world of their terrorist leader who had just killed an American, and badly wounded many others, not to mention all of the people he had killed over his lifetime, including recently hundreds of Iranian protesters.

“He was already attacking our embassy, and preparing for additional hits in other locations. Iran has been nothing but problems for many years.”

Mr Trump also warned: “The USA wants no more threats!”