Foreign News
Trump threatens Iranian infrastructure over Strait of Hormuz attacks
US President Donald Trump warned on Wednesday that the US would destroy one bridge or power plant each time Iran fired at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump’s latest threat to target civilian infrastructure came as the unpopular war spiralled with no clear off-ramp, threatening further global economic disruption and sending fuel prices higher ahead of US midterm elections this autumn. Both sides have dug in over the strait, a crucial waterway for global energy that remains largely closed because of Iranian attacks.
Seyed Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, said his country would adopt an “eye for an eye” defence doctrine.
“Any aggression against Iran, including our infrastructure, will compel a powerful and decisive response,” he posted on Wednesday on X.
The US carried out another wave of strikes on Iran overnight into Wednesday, and 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.
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With negotiations largely stalled, both sides have sought leverage by targeting civilian infrastructure. Iran has responded to US attacks by targeting energy infrastructure and desalination plants that provide drinking water in parched neighbouring Gulf countries.
International law generally prohibits such attacks unless the infrastructure is being used for military purposes. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres decried such attacks as “unacceptable” on Tuesday.
The closure of the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil and gas passed during peacetime, has jolted the global economy with effects far beyond the Middle East. A new threat by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen to target Saudi shipping in the Red Sea puts another trade chokepoint at risk.
“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.
Trump travelled to Dover Air Force Base on Wednesday for the arrival of the remains of four US service members. A day earlier, his defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, estimated in a fiery Senate hearing that the US had spent $37.5 billion on the war so far.
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Benchmark Brent crude oil rose to more than $93 a barrel in trading. That’s up from less than $72 early this month, roughly where it was before the war. Petrol prices are also climbing.
Iran says it has the right to manage traffic and potentially charge fees in the strait, which was open to all and toll-free before the war. It has attacked ships using a route through the strait that is overseen by US forces and intended to be outside Tehran’s control.
Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who has led negotiations with the US, appeared to brush off Trump’s threats.
“If our security is not ensured, no infrastructure will be safe, and the security of the strait is in the absence of American forces,” he wrote on social media. “We have repeatedly said that the situation of the strait will not return to pre-war conditions.”
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.
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Iran has avoided striking Israel since hostilities resumed last month, apparently hoping to keep it from re-entering the war. But the attack on Aqaba, within sight of Israel‘s Eilat, raised concerns over a further widening of the conflict after an agreement to halt hostilities collapsed.
Another missile alert sounded in Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia warned residents of the Gulf city of Dammam to seek shelter. Saudi authorities later said the danger had passed, without elaborating.
The US military said earlier on 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 has increasingly become a battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Read moreTrump says US ‘not finished’ attacking Iran as conflict widens
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.
An Arab diplomat said Gulf states are increasingly pessimistic about finding an off-ramp for the escalating hostilities and are particularly concerned about the latest round of threats in which the two sides have warned they may attack civilian infrastructure.
The diplomat said countries in the region, in addition to Pakistan and Turkey, are continuing to push for de-escalation. But he said the chances of any improvement currently appear bleak. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
At a regional summit in the Philippines, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio denounced Iran’s actions in the strait.
“If we create a precedent in the Middle East where a nation state can decide that they are going to control an international waterway, charge a toll and if you don’t pay them, blow up your ships, we have created a very dangerous precedent which will repeat itself in other parts of the world, including in this region,” he said.
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Rubio said the US remains open to negotiations with Iran, “but right now they don’t seem to be serious about that”, so the focus is instead on protecting shipping.
In response to Iran’s attacks, the US reimposed a blockade on Iranian ports.
Speaking from the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump gave a dim view of possible talks, saying the US had “no interest in meeting”.
He signalled that US forces could soon target an under-construction Iranian nuclear site buried deep beneath a mountain.
The site, known as Pickaxe Mountain, lies on the south side of Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment site, which was bombed by the US during the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in 2025. But Pickaxe Mountain has remained untouched as Iran continues to dig at the site.
Iran has always insisted its nuclear programme is peaceful, while resuming the enrichment of uranium to near weapons-grade levels since Trump scrapped a 2015 nuclear deal during his first term. The US and others believe Iran had a nuclear weapons programme until 2003 and may reconstitute it in the future.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)