Donald Trump has certainly begun ratcheting up his rhetoric about Iran in the last few hours.

And, being a man who is both the US President and inherently unpredictable, his words do matter immensely.

But we do need to take his threats of a return to heavy strikes on Iran with a healthy dose of scepticism – in part because of the questionable political appetite in the US for the fighting to resume with Iran, and in part because of how frequently his public declarations have amounted to very little in this war.

(Reuters: Nathan Howard)

I think we’ve lost count how many times he has said a deal with Iran to end the war in the Middle East was just days away, or was almost finalised, or was imminent because of how desperate Tehran was to strike an agreement.

We’re now 103 days since the war began, and 64 days since the ceasefire between the US and Iran was announced to allow those talks to continue in earnest.

And there’s been no deal.

(Reuters: Stringer)

That ceasefire was due to last a few weeks. The deadline came and went, and no new firm expiry date was set.

President Trump was widely condemned in early April, when he posted on social media “a whole civilization will die tonight” ahead of that ceasefire being declared.

And, because that truce was announced, he didn’t wipe out the entire Iranian civilisation.

Days earlier, he had been threatening to bomb key Iranian infrastructure – bridges and power plants the focus there, as well as desalination plants at one point too.

Some strikes were recorded, including on a bridge still under construction, but nothing was seen on the scale being suggested by the social media posts.

The President has also continued to insist Israel’s Prime Minister does as he tells him – but Benjamin Netanyahu then went and attacked Iran, after continuing attacks on parts of Lebanon seemingly in defiance of Trump.

None of this is to say that the US President’s current threats, that he “may” order new strikes on bridges and power plants because Iran is taking too long to agree to a deal, are hollow.

But it does provide context as to how this cycle of commentary plays out.

The strikes overnight here in the Middle East have certainly fuelled a lot of concern in the region about what’s coming next, particularly after the first direct attacks between Israel and Iran earlier in the week.

And people will be reading the President’s remarks with interest and anxiety.