Washington (United States) (AFP) – The United States on Wednesday renewed attacks against Iran, with President Donald Trump vowing to “hit them hard” after negotiations on ending the more than three-month war floundered. US forces “began launching additional self-defense strikes …against multiple targets in Iran at the Commander in Chief’s direction. The strikes are in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression,” US Central Command announced.
Iranian media reported explosions in the country’s south near the Strait of Hormuz. The second day in a row of US attacks followed Trump’s complaint that Tehran’s negotiators were “playing us for suckers.” “We hit them hard yesterday. We’re going to hit them again hard today,” Trump told reporters. “We were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said there could be a third night of strikes, which he said would be “strong” and “clear.”
The violence drew international calls for restraint on the eve of the World Cup, which the US is co-hosting and Iran is participating in. The United Nations chief cautioned against a return to “full war.” Iran’s UN ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani rejected Trump’s threat, saying “no sustainable deal can be reached through threats, intimidation, or the use of force.” But diplomacy had not collapsed entirely: Qatari negotiators traveled to Tehran on Wednesday “to meet with the Iranians in an effort to bridge the remaining gaps,” a diplomat with knowledge of the situation said.
The war began at the end of February with massive US-Israeli strikes on Iran, rattling the region and global markets before an increasingly shaky truce took effect. The conflict has driven energy prices higher after Tehran retaliated by virtually closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of global oil normally passes. Trump said Wednesday that the US military secretly helped 100 million barrels of oil pass through the contested strait. Global stocks mostly fell as the renewed fighting, a jump in US inflation and weakness in technology shares weighed on sentiment, while oil prices climbed about two percent.
Iran said it attacked American bases in Jordan and Bahrain Tuesday after US strikes on the Islamic republic in retaliation for the earlier downing of a helicopter. The Apache was the second crewed aircraft Washington has confirmed to have been shot down by Iran during the war. Its two crew members were rescued, the US military said. Bahrain said it intercepted and destroyed “a number of Iranian aerial attacks,” while Jordan said it shot down five missiles without casualties or damage. Kuwait’s military said its air defenses were also engaging “hostile aerial targets.”
Tehran’s foreign ministry warned its neighbors against letting the US or Israel use their territory for attacks. The US military also said an American warplane fired on and disabled a tanker in the Gulf of Oman that was attempting to transport Iranian oil in violation of a US blockade. The violence also drew calls for de-escalation from Iranian allies Russia and China. China urged both sides to “stop intensifying the conflict and escalating the situation.”
Iran has insisted any deal to end the war must include a truce in Lebanon, drawn into the conflict when Iran-backed Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2. Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion that have killed more than 3,600 people, while exchanges of fire with Hezbollah have continued despite a nominal truce. A medical source told AFP that Israeli strikes on south Lebanon killed 12 people Wednesday.
© 2024 AFP
