Washington will retaliate strongly against Iran after Tehran's overnight attacks on US facilities in the region, US President Donald Trump said.

Iran is going to be hit hard, Trump said in a phone interview with Fox News, using extremely harsh language to describe the future US response.

The US president called Iran's attack on US forces in Jordan a surprise attack, noting that the US military had to respond to the missiles launched and try to intercept them in just a few minutes.

Commenting on the US and Saudi Arabian strikes on armed groups linked to Iran in Iraq, Trump said that the operation was carried out in coordination with the Iraqi government, and he called these groups a cancerous tumor on the world.

Despite the sharp escalation of the situation with Iran, Trump announced that American negotiators will continue to hold talks with Tehran.

Separately, responding to a question about his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, the US president said that it went very well.

According to Trump, his Israeli counterpart now understands the situation, but the US president did not specify what exactly he meant by that.