DUBAI — US President Donald Trump threatened Iran on Wednesday with another night of strikes, just hours after he said the ceasefire was “over” following Iranian attacks on American military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain..
Trump renewed his past threats to strike Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including electric plants and desalinization plants, and to seize Kharg Island, which includes most of the Islamic Republic’s oil facilities.
“We hit them very hard last night,” Trump said when asked about a possible return to hostilities. “We’ll probably hit them hard again tonight.”
“It may be a big attack, and it’ll knock out a lot of stuff,” Trump warned during a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey.
Trump also said the US was considering to reinstate its naval blockade of Iranian ports, which was lifted as part of the initial agreement to end the war on June 17.
“We may put it back, the blockade,” Trump said. “And it will only be a blockade for Iran, anybody else can have whatever they want.”
Iranian politicians are pushing back on Trump’s threat to attack Kharg Island, a key hub for Iranian oil exports.
“The era of bullying and extortion is over,” Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf wrote on X. “It leads nowhere. We don’t fold.”
Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, has warned that US “adventures” in the region would be met with an “immediate response”.
“New provocations and the verbal admission of the cancellation” of the initial peace agreement “drives the region toward fire,” he said.
Velayati, a former foreign affairs minister admonished the “latest escalation,” saying on X that Iran had “previously warned that ‘the region is no place for the political gambling of small nations’” and that it “stands with its finger on the trigger to cleanse the region.”
Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesperson for the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, wrote on X on Trump’s threat to seize the Kharg island: “Come, we are waiting for you, and we promise that not a single American soldier will return alive.”
After three tankers were hit Tuesday, the US launched strikes on Iran, and Iranian forces retaliated by attacking American military sites in the Gulf.
The latest exchange of fire raised fears that the war in Iran could reignite, and Trump fueled those concerns by saying the interim agreement to pause fighting was “over,” although he added that he would allow negotiations to continue.
Attacks have repeatedly threatened the shaky ceasefire, but Trump’s comments added new uncertainty, and oil prices shot up after he spoke. A renewed conflict could engulf the wider Middle East and would likely again halt energy shipments through the strait that are crucial to the global economy.
The US military has attacked Iran after it said Tehran struck three ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
“For me, I think it’s over,” Trump said when asked about the status of the ceasefire. He added that US representatives can continue negotiations, but he cast doubt on the outcome. “They can talk, but I think they’re wasting their time,” he said.
Trump has threatened to seize Kharg Island at previous points in the war, including last month, when he also questioned whether the US “has the stomach for it.” Some 90% of Iranian oil exports pass through the island.
Negotiations to reach a final deal had been due to start after the dayslong funeral for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed Feb. 28 in the war’s first moments. The funeral, which ends Thursday, was supposed to be a period of lower tensions.
The US military’s Central Command said American forces launched strikes “to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.”
It said it hit Iranian targets including air-defense systems, radars and over 60 small boats used by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
Those boats have been key to threatening ships in the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas passed before the war. Iran’s ability to bring shipping in the waterway to a near halt during the war proved its greatest strategic advantage. Rising prices for energy supplies, fertilizer and food put pressure on the US to make a deal.
On Wednesday, the price of Brent crude, the international standard, spiked over 5% after Trump’s comments.
Iranian state media reported explosions in several locations, including in Bandar Mahshahr, where a Revolutionary Guard member was killed. It also reported attacks on Bushehr, home to Iran’s nuclear power plant complex.
On Wednesday morning, both Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, and Kuwait, home to US Army forces, sounded missile alerts. The Revolutionary Guard issued a statement acknowledging targeting US military installations in both countries.
Kuwait said it intercepted two ballistic missiles and 13 drones launched by Iran. The Kuwaiti Electricity Ministry said a number of lines were out of service after shrapnel fell on them.
A similar spate of Iranian attacks on shipping and US retaliatory strikes occurred late last month, which similarly drew Iranian attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait.
Anwar Gargash, a senior diplomat in the United Arab Emirates, called Iran’s attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait “a clear indicator that Tehran remains incapable of committing to the requirements of de-escalation and turning the page on war.”
Before the strikes, the US had revoked a license that — for the first time in years — had allowed Iran to conduct oil sales openly in US dollars, as part of the interim deal. Iran long had been suspected of selling sanctioned crude at below-market prices to China.
The revocation came after the strikes on shipping. One tanker was off the coast of Oman when it was hit and caught fire, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. Iranian state television said the tanker came under attack after ignoring warnings but did not directly claim the assault.
Majed al-Ansari, a spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, said the tanker was carrying Qatari natural gas and called the strike an “unacceptable attack” on international navigation and global energy security. He said Qatar, which has been a key mediator alongside Pakistan in the talks, holds Iran “fully legally responsible.”
Two other ships sustained some damage, but no one was injured, and both continued on their way, the UK agency said.
Source: Saudi Gazette