Washington (United States) (AFP) – US President Donald Trump launched a foul-mouthed threat to destroy Iran’s vital civilian infrastructure Sunday, demanding Tehran buckle to his demands for a deal to reopen the Gulf to shipping and end the Middle East war. As Christians celebrated Easter, the US leader pivoted back to warnings of air strikes on Iranian power plants and bridges, after celebrating the rescue of a wounded airman whose F-15 jet was brought down inside Iran.
Iran distributed images showing the wreckage of several aircraft, but did not deny that US forces had rescued the officer who had taken cover in a mountainous area while American special forces and Iranian troops raced to find him. The war, which erupted on February 28 with deadly US-Israeli strikes on Tehran, has engulfed the Middle East and convulsed the global economy. Iranian missiles have hit Israeli cities and economic infrastructure in the Gulf, sending world energy prices soaring. Iran has also effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz shipping lane, a vital route for oil and gas, provoking Trump to demand Sunday in a post on his social media platform: “Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell.” Later, the president appeared to set the deadline for Iran to comply to “Tuesday, 8:00 PM’ — midnight GMT — in a laconic follow-up post.
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!” he declared, drawing criticism at home for his intemperate language and a rebuke from Tehran, which accused Trump of following orders from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Your reckless moves are dragging the United States into a living HELL for every single family, and our whole region is going to burn because you insist on following Netanyahu’s commands,” Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, posted on social media. In an English language post, Ghalibaf added: “Make no mistake: You won’t gain anything through war crimes. The only real solution is respecting the rights of the Iranian people and ending this dangerous game.” Iran’s ally Russia also condemned Trump’s threat.
According to a Russian readout of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s latest call with his Iranian counterpart, Moscow hopes that negotiations “would be facilitated by the United States abandoning the language of ultimatums.” Many residents of Tehran seemed indifferent to Trump’s declarations. In a large park in the west of the city on Sunday, young Iranians had a picnic. Nearby, two friends played with a frisbee as techno music blared from a portable speaker. One man was making the most of a windy day by flying his kite in front of Tehran’s iconic Milad Tower landmark.
US media reported on details of the rescue operation of the US airman, a weapons systems officer. The New York Times said he was equipped with a pistol, a beacon, and a secure communications device to coordinate with rescuers. Two of the aircraft meant to transport him and his rescuers to safety were stuck in a remote base in Iran and had to be destroyed to prevent them from falling into Iranian hands, the New York Times and CBS reported. US forces then used three other transport planes to carry the airman and his rescuers out of Iran, the reports said. Iran’s military said it had destroyed four US aircraft involved in the operation, which it said had made use of an abandoned airport in southern Isfahan province. Iranian media reported five people were killed in strikes during the operation. Footage released by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was presented as showing charred wreckage of an American aircraft scattered across a desert area, with smoke still rising. Iran has said its forces downed the fighter jet and the crew ejected, while US media reported only that the plane had been shot down. The US administration has not said publicly what caused the plane to come down.
Critical infrastructure across the Gulf came under attack from Iran again on Sunday, with damage reported at civilian facilities in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Kuwait. UAE authorities in Sharjah said they were dealing with an “incident” in the key port of Khor Fakkan following an Iranian strike. UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash warned Iran that its strategy of targeting its Arab neighbors “will actually concretise the American role… It will not reduce it.” We will also see Israeli influence become more prominent in the Gulf, not less,” he added, confirming the UAE was ready to “join any American-led effort, international effort to secure navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.”
On another front, Lebanon has increasingly been drawn into the conflict since the Iran-backed Hezbollah group began targeting Israel. Israel has struck back and pushed its ground forces into southern Lebanon. The war has cast a pall over Easter Sunday celebrations for Christian minorities in Lebanon and across the region. In the usually lively alleyways of Jerusalem’s Old City, silence reigned on Sunday. As a security precaution, Israeli authorities restricted access to the Holy Sepulchre, where the faithful commemorate Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. “It’s very hard for all of us because it’s our holiday… It’s really hard to want to pray but to come here and find nothing. Everything is closed,” said Christina Toderas, 44, from Romania.
In his Easter blessing at the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV urged “those who have the power to unleash wars” to “choose peace” instead and criticised global indifference to “the deaths of thousands of people.”
© 2024 AFP
