SerpApi.Org
Donald Trump has warned Iran that for every ship it attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, US forces will blow up a bridge or power plant.
The US president said no bridges or power plants were off limits, and that Washington could target some in Tehran.
Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social: “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, including those located next to, or in, the Capital City of Tehran.”
In response, Tehran warned of an “eye for an eye” response if infrastructure was hit.
Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, said: “Our defense doctrine is clear: eye for an eye.
“Any aggression against Iran, including our infrastructure, will compel a powerful and decisive response.
“Those who contribute to such aggression, whatever the kind of support, will also be considered as legitimate targets.”
According to Iran’s Tasnim news agency, a military source added that Tehran would strike US regional infrastructure in retaliation.
“If a bridge or power plant in Iran is targeted, we will strike multiple regional infrastructures and energy facilities,” they said.
“Americans must have become certain in these past 10 days that Iran targets wherever it chooses, and therefore Trump’s probable gamble will once again lead to his disgrace.”
The US president made the threat days after US forces took out at least five bridges around Bandar Abbas, a port city that is vital to the country’s trade and food.
The bombings left the city of 500,000 people – where roughly half the country’s imports arrive – almost completely isolated.
Iran responded by striking US bases in Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain and a radar station in Oman.
The US responded in turn by launching a further wave of strikes on Iran on Wednesday night.
US Central Command said on X: “At 5.30pm ET today, US forces began launching more strikes against Iranian military targets at the commander in chief’s direction. The mission will continue to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting regional waters.”
After the collapse of their temporary peace deal, Washington and Tehran have been trading strikes for the past 11 days, threatening a return to all-out war.
Hitting bridges used by civilians once again raises questions about possible war crimes.
Tehran’s foreign ministry described the latest wave of US attacks targeting bridges as “a flagrant violation of the UN Charter and the fundamental principles of international law”.
When Mr Trump previously threatened to bomb Iran’s bridges and power plants in April, Volker Turk, the human rights chief for the UN, said: “Deliberately attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime.”
The 1949 Geneva Conventions, to which the US is a signatory, require warring parties to distinguish between military targets and civilian infrastructure, but some legal experts argue that infrastructure such as bridges can be labelled as legitimate targets if they are not used solely for civilian purposes.
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In their latest strikes, US missiles pounded southern Iran with three explosions heard near Sirik, a stretch of coast that Washington has repeatedly targeted since the fighting resumed.
Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz, which the US has been trying to force open, and has vowed to widen the war to the Red Sea and paralyse global oil flow if the US continues its attacks.
On Wednesday, Iran recovered the remains of the children killed in a primary school in southern Iran on the first day of the war.
The strike, which is the single deadliest incident of the conflict, killed more than 150 people, including 120 children, on Feb 28.
After more than four months of searching through the rubble of the Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school in the southern city of Minab, recovery teams unearthed 68 body fragments, which DNA testing identified as belonging to 34 students.
The remains were buried together at the city’s martyrs’ cemetery.
While the White House tried to distance itself from the strike, US military investigators believe they were responsible.
The UK Foreign Office said on Wednesday it had temporarily withdrawn its UK staff from Iran due to the “security situation”.
The embassy continues to operate remotely, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said in an update to its Iran travel guidance.
