Kanishka Singh and Enas Alashray
Washington/Cairo: US President Donald Trump said America “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran”, reiterating vows to increase the ferocity of attacks on its infrastructure, as dozens of countries sought ways to restart vital energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
Nearly five weeks after it started with a joint US-Israeli aerial assault, the war in Iran continues to spread chaos across the region and roil financial markets, raising the pressure on Trump to find a quick resolution to the conflict.
Trump has stepped up his rhetoric in recent days as negotiations conducted via intermediaries with new leaders in Iran show limited signs of progress.
The US military “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants,” Trump wrote on social media late on Thursday (Washington time), adding that Iran’s leadership “knows what has to be done, and has to be done, FAST!”
He earlier posted video of the US bombing a newly constructed bridge between Tehran and the major north-west suburb of Karaj. The B1 bridge was scheduled to open to traffic this year. According to Iran’s state media, eight people were killed and 95 others were wounded in the attack.
“Striking civilian structures, including unfinished bridges, will not compel Iranians to surrender,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in a statement.
Satellite images also showed smoke rising from the port in Qeshm, an Iranian island strategically located in the Strait of Hormuz, earlier this week.
Still, Iran and its allies have continued to strike targets around the Gulf. Kuwait Petroleum Corp said its Mina al-Ahmadi refinery was hit by drones, setting off fires at operating units, but no injuries were reported, according to the state news agency.
Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said on Friday its air defences intercepted seven drones in recent hours, according to its state news agency.
And a spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya central HQ claimed on Friday that a second US F-35 fighter jet was shot down over central Iran by Revolutionary Guard air defences, with low chances of pilot survival.
There was no immediate comment from the US.
Concerns about potential US war crimes raised
More than 100 American international law experts said the conduct of US forces and statements by senior US officials “raise serious concerns about violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, including potential war crimes”.
A letter signed by the experts particularly noted a mid-March comment from Trump where he said the US might conduct strikes on Iran “just for fun”. It also cited comments from Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth from early March in which he said the US does not fight with “stupid rules of engagement”.
In a speech on Wednesday night, Trump repeated his threats against Iran’s civilian power plants and gave no clear timeline for ending hostilities. That drew vows of retaliation from Iran, weighed on global share prices and sent oil prices surging on concerns the Strait of Hormuz would remain largely closed.
Britain chaired a virtual meeting on Thursday of some 40 countries to explore ways to restore freedom of navigation that did not produce any specific agreement, though participants agreed that all nations should be able to use the waterway freely, one official said.
UNSC to vote on Bahraini plan to protect shipping
The United Nations Security Council was set to vote at the weekend on a Bahraini resolution to protect commercial shipping in and around the strait, diplomats said, but veto-wielding China made clear its opposition to authorising any use of force.
Any military action would be “legitimising the unlawful and indiscriminate use of force, which would inevitably lead to further escalation of the situation and lead to serious consequences”, China’s UN envoy, Fu Cong, told the Security Council.
Iran has in effect shut down the strait, which normally carries about a fifth of the world’s total oil trade, in retaliation for US-Israeli attacks that began on February 28.
Tehran offered a competing vision for future control of the strait, and said it was drafting a protocol with neighbouring Oman that would require ships to obtain permits and licences.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, pushed back against Tehran’s plan, saying Iran cannot be allowed to charge countries a bounty to let ships pass. “International law doesn’t recognise pay-to-pass schemes,” Kallas wrote on social media.
Fears of Iranian stranglehold on Mideast energy
There are fears the conflict may leave Iran with a stranglehold over Middle East energy supplies now that it has shown that it can block the Strait of Hormuz by targeting oil tankers and attacking Gulf countries hosting US troops.
Gulf states say they reserve the right to self-defence but have refrained from responding militarily to repeated Iranian attacks over the past month, seeking to avoid escalation into a far more devastating all-out Middle East war.
Thousands of people have been killed and tens of thousands injured across the Middle East since the war began, with the head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies delegation saying that medical needs were rising exponentially and supplies could run low.
Fuel shortages have already caused economic strains across Asia and are expected to bite in Europe soon, while a report by two UN agencies warned that a sharp economic slowdown could spark a cost-of-living crisis in Africa.
Hegseth fires US Army chief
As the US military builds up its forces in the Middle East, Hegseth removed the army’s top uniformed officer and two other generals, the Pentagon said without giving a reason.
General Randy George, who had more than a year left in his term as Army chief of staff, would be retiring, effective immediately, it said.
The ouster of such a senior military figure is nearly without precedent during wartime, but just the latest of more than a dozen firings of top generals and admirals by Hegseth since he took office last year.
Hegseth’s former military aide and Army vice chief of staff, General Christopher LaNeve, will take over George’s role in an acting capacity.
Reuters, AP
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