WASHINGTON.- President Donald Trump warned that the United States will hit Iran “very hard” this Thursday night, and assured that it will soon seize its main oil terminals.
“The United States will attack Iran (whose Navy, Air Force, radars, anti-aircraft defense and all other forms of defense, along with most of its offensive capabilities, have DISAPPEARED!), VERY STRONG TONIGHT,” the president said on his Truth Social network.
“At some point in the not-too-distant future, we will take Jark Island and other points of oil infrastructure, and assume full control of their oil and gas markets, much like what we have done with Venezuela, which is turning out great for both Venezuela and the United States,” he added.
These new threats from the head of the White House come when, for the second consecutive day, Washington and Tehran have exchanged attacks, after the Revolutionary Guard claimed responsibility for the launch of a wave of drone attacks against US bases located in Bahrain and other points in the Middle East, in an action that it described as “retaliation” for the aggressions perpetrated by the United States against various enclaves of the Islamic Republic.
Iran responds to the truce
For its part, Iran warned this Thursday that the fragile truce in the Middle East has become “practically irrelevant” and decreed the total closure of the Strait of Hormuz after the latest series of crossed attacks with the United States.
In force since April 8, after more than a month of Israeli-American bombings on Iran and Tehran’s retaliation against the region, the ceasefire had been largely respected despite threatening statements from both sides.
But since Sunday the situation escalated, first with a conflagration between Iran and Israel and then with attacks between the Islamic republic and the United States that broke out on Tuesday night and continued this Thursday.
It is “difficult to remain optimistic,” summarized this Thursday the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan, a mediating country between Washington and Tehran, who called for diplomacy and dialogue.
A Qatari delegation left Tehran this Thursday, where it arrived on Wednesday to try to advance a diplomatic path that now seems deadlocked. Countries such as China, Russia and Saudi Arabia have asked in recent hours for an urgent return to the dialogue table.
Closing “until further notice”
The Iranian authority in charge of supervising the Strait of Hormuz confirmed the total closure “until further orders” of this route, as the Revolutionary Guards had threatened the day before.
Since February 28, when the Israeli-American attacks triggered the war, Iran has greatly restricted navigation through this crucial route for the hydrocarbon trade, although until now it had allowed the passage of about twenty ships a day.
Over the past night, the US military claimed to have attacked “Iranian military surveillance centers, communications systems and air defense facilities across the country.”
Three people were injured, said Iranian media, which reported explosions on the island of Qeshm, in Minab, Sirik and in the port of Bandar Abbas, in the south.
Iran responded with the launch of twenty missiles against a US base in Jordan, which were all intercepted, and with new attacks against its Gulf neighbors, allies of Washington.
