WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — President Donald Trump warned Tehran on Tuesday that the “gloves are off” if Iran targets U.S. interests in the Middle East. His comment came as Israel and Iran exchanged strikes for a fifth day and casualties mount on both sides.

“We’ll come down so hard if they do anything to our people — the gloves are off,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he returned to Washington a day early from the Group of Seven summit in Canada. “I think they know not to touch our troops.”

Trump is due to meet with members of his national security team in the White House Situation Room Tuesday to discuss the option of the U.S. getting involved militarily in Iran as the conflict rages.

The president said he is looking for something “better than a ceasefire” between Israel and Iran. When asked to clarify what he meant, Trump responded, “an end, a real end… a complete give-up” by Iran.

Trump added that “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. It’s very simple.”

In recent days, the U.S. military has expanded its footprint in the region and deployed a “large number” of refueling tanker aircraft to Europe to be closer to the Middle East, a U.S. official told NewsNation. The move was intended to “provide options” to Trump and his national security team amid the escalating conflict, the official said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also announced that he “directed the deployment of additional capabilities” to the Middle East over the weekend to “enhance our defensive posture in the region.” Hegseth provided few specifics on those capabilities.

“What it looks like right now is that we’re vigilant. We’re prepared,” Hegseth said in an interview with Fox News on Monday night. “We’ve messaged consistently from the beginning that we’re in the region to defend our people and our assets.”