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President Donald Trump has threatened to expand US strikes on Iran next week to target power plants and bridges if Tehran does not agree to a deal amid a continuing dispute over the strait of Hormuz.
“Next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants. Next week comes the bridges,” Trump said in a Fox News interview on Tuesday. “We’re going to knock out all their power plants. We’re going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate.”
The US president made similar comments in March, when he threatened to “obliterate” Iran’s power stations and fresh water plants if Tehran did not agree to peace terms “shortly”. Destroying civilian infrastructure such as power and water facilities would be illegal under international humanitarian law and would probably constitute a war crime.
Trump’s comments came as US forces carried out strikes against Iran for a fourth day in a row and reimposed a naval blockade on the country’s ports in the strait of Hormuz.
US Central Command (Centcom) said the latest strikes were aimed at “degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping” in the strait, the key shipping channel for Gulf oil and gas where Tehran has repeatedly carried out attacks on civilian vessels.
Iranian state media reported explosions near the port city of Bandar Abbas, on the Gulf island of Qeshm near the strait of Hormuz, and other locations.
State news agency IRNA later said that Iranian forces launched a drone attack on a military base in Jordan that hosts American warplanes.
Trump earlier backed down from a threat that ships would have to pay a ۲۰% fee to the US for “security” in the strait, replacing it with what he described as investment and trade deals with Gulf Arab states.
The US president said he had decided to scrap the toll “based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership”, and touted “massive” investments, just five hours before the toll was due to come into effect. He said the US would continue to blockade Iranian ports.
The abrupt U-turn came after three days of US strikes and Iranian retaliation on US allies in the Middle East, in the fiercest exchanges in weeks which threatened to pull the region back into all-out war. It further dimmed prospects for negotiations meant to lead to a permanent truce.
A fragile ۱۷ June ceasefire between the two sides has in effect collapsed, with the focus on control of the crucial strait of Hormuz. Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said the US decision to renew the blockade “has, in a way, dismantled the Islamabad memorandum”.
Asked how long the US strikes would carry on, Trump replied: “They’ll continue until I say it’s enough.”
With Agence France-Presse
