US will destroy a bridge for each Iranian attack: Trump
US President Donald Trump has warned Iran that America will destroy one bridge or power plant each time Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
The warning came after the US carried out another wave of strikes on Iran, where air defences opened fire over the Capital, Tehran. Iran launched a missile attack on a Jordanian city on Israel’s doorstep, and alerts were issued in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
In his warning on social media, the president returned to earlier threats to target civilian infrastructure in retaliation for Iranian attacks. “From this point forward, any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, Drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT,” Trump wrote on social media.
The 11th night of American airstrikes on Iran came as diplomatic efforts have shown little public sign of progress. Officials on both sides have dug in on their dispute over the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for global energy that remains largely closed because of Iranian attacks.
Iran has avoided striking Israel since hostilities resumed last month, apparently hoping to keep it from reentering the war. But the missile and drone attack on Jordan’s city of Aqaba, within sight of Israel’s Eilat, raised concerns over a further widening of the conflict after an agreement to halt hostilities collapsed.
The closure of the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil and gas passed during peacetime, has jolted the world economy with effects far beyond the West Asia. A new threat by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen to target Saudi shipping in the Red Sea puts another trade chokepoint at risk. Benchmark Brent crude oil rose to around $94 a barrel in trading, and gasoline prices are once again climbing ahead of US midterm elections this fall. Jordan’s military said it intercepted four Iranian missiles over Aqaba, while two others fell in “uninhabited areas”. Plumes of smoke could be seen overhead in videos filmed by people in the nearby Israeli city of Eilat. Jordan said it also intercepted four Iranian drones. Another missile alert sounded in Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia warned residents of the Persian Gulf city of Dammam to seek shelter. Saudi authorities later said the danger had passed, without elaborating.
The US military said earlier Wednesday that it had completed an 11th night of strikes on Iran, with targets including aircraft hangars and drone storage sites. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported explosions across several provinces. Iran’s Health Ministry says US strikes over the past 11 days have killed 53 people, including six women and three children, and wounded nearly 600 people.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard insisted its retaliatory attacks would continue. Before the latest strikes, Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni visited Pakistan, a key mediator in the conflict, seeking to revive diplomacy.
But it was unclear what new arrangement might be reached to end the war, which lately has become a battle for control over the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Interior Ministry spokesman Ali Zeinivand said “diplomacy isn’t called off” and that messages were still being exchanged, without elaborating, according to IRNA. At a regional summit in the Philippines, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio denounced Iran’s actions in the strait.
