Donald Trump has threatened to strike Iran’s bridges and power plants next week if the country does not return to negotiations, as the two sides exchanged fire for a fourth consecutive day. In a Fox News interview that aired on Tuesday night, the US president said: “Next week it gets really bad for them. We’re going to knock out all their power plants. We’re going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate.” He added: “I’ll save the energy targets for last, but ultimately we’ll hit energy targets.”
The comments came as the US military carried out a seven-hour wave of strikes on Iranian targets near the Strait of Hormuz and resumed a blockade of Iranian ports, hours after Trump reversed an earlier threat to impose a 20% fee on all cargo shipping through the strait, saying it would be replaced by “massive” trade and investment deals with Gulf states. US Central Command said it had struck “dozens” of Iranian military targets to “further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping and civilian crews”. In response, Tehran fired missiles and drones at US targets in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain, according to Iranian state television IRIB. Kuwait’s military said its air defences were “engaging hostile drone attacks following the nefarious Iranian aggression”, while Bahrain activated air raid sirens and urged citizens to head to the nearest safe place.
“Trump threatens to bomb Iranian bridges and power plants unless Iran resumes talks, as fighting enters fourth day.”
The escalation follows a pattern of rising rhetoric. Back in April, Trump threatened to bomb civilian infrastructure in Iran, including bridges and power plants. UN human rights chief Volker Türk responded at the time by saying: “Under international law, deliberately attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime.” The 1949 Geneva Conventions prohibit attacks on sites considered essential for civilians. Trump said US negotiators had conveyed to their Iranian counterparts on Tuesday evening that they “‘better make a deal, or you’re not going to have anything left’.” The US also accused Iran of having “intentionally targeted civilians” in the region by attacking seven commercial ships, which resulted in “nearly a dozen civilian crew members killed, missing, or injured”, according to the commander of Centcom. With both sides trading fire and Trump’s latest ultimatum hanging in the air, the prospect of diplomatic resolution appears increasingly distant.