US threatens to 'destroy' Iran's bridges and power plants
· RTE.ieUS President Donald Trump has vowed to destroy an Iranian bridge or power plant every time Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, raising the stakes after Iranian-allied Houthis in Yemen threatened a second vital energy route.
Five tankers changed course in the Red Sea to avoid the Bab el-Mandeb Strait today, a day after the Houthi threat to block Saudi oil exports highlighted a new risk to global oil supplies from the escalating conflict.
Three tankers loaded with Saudi oil for China and India made U-turns yesterday.
Iran's joint military command warned, according to state media, that if President Trump's threat was carried out, Iranian forces would target regional oil, gas, electricity and economic infrastructure and prevent the export of "even a single drop of oil".
"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," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on social media.
Iran's near-total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has stoked inflation around the world, and the new risk to shipping from the Houthis, who control areas near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, pushed oil prices to a near six-week high.
Millions of barrels of Saudi oil per day have been heading to the kingdom's Red Sea port of Yanbu to avoid the Strait of Hormuz.
If shipments cannot pass through the Red Sea's southern strait, they have only the northern route through the Suez Canal, which adds weeks to the journey and significantly raises freight and transit costs.
Trump in a 'quagmire', Iranian official says
US strikes have widened from the south to western and central areas of Iran.
Tehran pounded vital water desalination and energy plants in Kuwait this week and targeted American military assets in the country, as well as in Bahrain and Jordan.
Iran strengthened its military in anticipation that its adversaries would break agreements, Army Commander-in-Chief Major General Amir Hatami said.
Iranian media cited parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Committee spokesperson Hasan Qashqavi as saying President Trump was in a "quagmire".
An Iranian health ministry official said that 53 civilians had been killed and 592 wounded since late last month. The US military has said that it never targets civilians.
The war has led to the deaths of 18 American service members and injured more than 450 troops.
President Trump attended a ceremony today at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for four US troops killed in Iranian attacks on military bases over the last few days - three in Jordan and one in Iraq.
"For me it's one of the hardest things to do as a president. But it has to be done," he said before leaving for the event.
Mediators have presented Iran with a proposal for a 10-day ceasefire, a senior Iranian official said earlier this week.
The plan aims to salvage an interim truce agreement signed by Washington and Tehran last month.
Iran's Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni visited Pakistan this week and asked it to continue its mediation efforts.
Pakistan said that it would, but the safety of shipping must be assured.
Iran has insisted on maintaining the control of the Strait of Hormuz that it established during the war, which the US and Israel launched on 28 February.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that allowing Iran to have such control would set a dangerous precedent for the world, including Southeast Asia, where many countries have territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.
Iran was not serious about talks, he added.
"If they're serious, we're serious. If they're not, then we will do what's necessary to protect our interests, and also the interests of our allies," he told reporters at a meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers in the Philippines.
During the 11th straight night of US bombing of Iran, Tehran residents reported explosions in the early hours of today from air defences activated over the capital, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said.
Three locations in Bushehr province, home to the country's only nuclear power plant, were hit, an official told state news agency IRNA, including an electricity post close to the site.
Iranian media also said the US targeted locations in central Hamadan province, giving no details.
Iran's army said that it struck accommodation and storage facilities at the US Al Azraq Air Base in Jordan, targeted warehouses and aircraft maintenance hangars at Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain and targeted Camp Doha in Kuwait.
Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain all said they had intercepted Iranian attacks.