President Donald Trump furiously fired off a handful of tweets Tuesday morning after Iranian leadership described the White House as "mentally handicapped" in a dismissive response to the latest round of sanctions.

"Iran's very ignorant and insulting statement, put out today, only shows that they do not understand reality," Trump said on Twitter.

In his latest tweets, he suggested that should Iran attack "anything American," possibly even an unmanned aerial vehicle, his administration would respond with "great and overwhelming force," a position that makes conflict more likely.

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President Donald Trump furiously fired off a handful of tweets Tuesday morning after Iranian leadership described the White House as "mentally handicapped" in a dismissive response to the latest round of sanctions.

"Iran leadership doesn't understand the words 'nice' or 'compassion,' they never have," the president tweeted. "Sadly, the thing they do understand is Strength and Power, and the USA is by far the most powerful Military Force in the world."

"Iran's very ignorant and insulting statement, put out today, only shows that they do not understand reality," Trump said. "Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force. In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration."

The president's tweets follow a statement by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who dismissed the latest sanctions as evidence of US desperation. "The White House actions mean it is mentally handicapped," he said, adding that "Tehran's strategic patience does not mean we have fear."

Read more: Iran is threatening to shoot down more drones as the US turns up the pressure on Tehran with new sanctions

Last week, following a string of attacks on tankers the US believes were carried out by Iranian forces, the Iranian military shot down a US Navy drone.

Read more: Iran just shot down one of the US military's most advanced drones — it costs more than an F-35 stealth fighter

In the aftermath, the Trump administration was, according to the president, "cocked and loaded" to retaliate with strikes, but Trump called off the attack at the last minute, arguing that taking life, as was expected to happen, in response to an attack on an unmanned platform would have been disproportionate.

Read more: Trump says he called off Iran strike 10 minutes before it was supposed to happen because he was told 150 people would die

Instead, his administration opted for cyberattacks and more sanctions, which have been battering Iran's economy.

His latest tweets suggested that should Iran attack anything American, possibly even an unmanned aerial vehicle, his administration would respond with "great and overwhelming force," a position that makes conflict more likely in this standoff with Tehran.

Update: This post was updated to include a better translation of Rouhani's statement about the Trump White House being "mentally handicapped."