Trump calls on Iran to make a deal before it’s too late
WASHINGTON/TEHRAN/JERUSALEM – US President Donald Trump Thursday touted an American strike on what he calls Iran’s biggest bridge, pledging that similar strikes will follow if Tehran doesn’t agree to Washington’s ceasefire proposal to end the war.
“The biggest bridge in Iran comes tumbling down, never to be used again — Much more to follow!” Trump writes in a Truth Social post that also includes footage of the strike on a highway bridge linking Tehran to the western city of Karaj.
“It is time for Iran to make a deal before it is too late, and there is nothing left of what still could become a great country!” Trump said. The US to date has largely avoided targeting Iranian civilian infrastructure and even warned Israel against hitting Iranian energy sites, as Washington seeks to avoid turning Iran into a failed state.
But Trump appears determined to further ramp up the pressure against the Islamic Republic, even as the latter doesn’t appear poised to accept Washington’s ceasefire demands.
Iran on Thursday threatened “crushing” attacks on the US and Israel, firing missiles at the Jewish state, after US President Donald Trump vowed to bomb the Islamic Republic “back to the Stone Ages.”
The war, which erupted more than a month ago with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, has spread throughout the Middle East and roiled the global economy, impacting hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
In a prime-time White House address Wednesday night, Trump said the US was “very close” to achieving its objectives but warned attacks would intensify if Iran did not reach a negotiated settlement.
Around an hour later, Fars reported fresh airstrikes on the bridge, which it said was hit while “rescue forces were assisting the victims of the first attack.”
The strikes were carried out by the American military. The IDF denied striking the bridge.
The Israeli military said it had bombed several headquarters in Iran in the past day that manage finances for the country’s military forces and weapons manufacturing, as well as funds intended for proxy groups. Iran launched several missiles at Israel overnight and on Thursday morning, pressing Israeli air defenses into action in the country’s center and north. Police responded to “several” impact sites, as four people were reportedly lightly injured in the Tel Aviv area.
The IDF said Thursday evening that Iran had launched some 20 ballistic missiles at Israel in the past day, during the Passover holiday, marking an uptick in the rate of fire compared to recent weeks.
Around half of the missiles were intercepted, and half were allowed to hit open areas, “according to protocol,” the military said. At least two missiles carried cluster bomb warheads, which spread bomblets over wide areas in central Israel, lightly injuring several people and causing damage.
The military assessed that Iran tried to launch dozens more ballistic missiles, but a wave of strikes thwarted the plans.
The Iranian military command center Khatam Al-Anbiya put out a statement carried on state TV warning the US and Israel to expect “more crushing, broader, and more destructive actions.”
“With trust in Almighty God, this war will continue until your humiliation, disgrace, permanent and certain regret, and surrender,” said the statement.
The latest attacks came as Jewish Israelis were celebrating Passover, which some were forced to do underground. “This is not my first choice,” said a writer who gave his name as Jeffrey, at a holiday Seder organized in a bunker in Tel Aviv.
“But at least in the shelter, we can sit here and just ride it out,” he added.
‘Resist until the end’
Trump has recently raised the possibility of a deal to end the war, which has pushed up fuel prices in the US and around the world and pushed down his approval ratings.
The IDF confirms killing Jamshid Eshaghi, a top Iranian general, in an airstrike in Iran over the weekend.
The military identifies Eshaghi as the chief of Iran’s “oil headquarters.” Officially, he served as the head of budget and financial affairs at Iran’s armed forces general staff, a military body that coordinates between the regular army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The military says the oil HQ is an “integral part of the regime’s armed forces, enabling the continuation of their activities and military buildup through profits from oil sales.”
“For years, the IRGC and additional military bodies in Iran have been financed through vast budgets sourced from oil sales, while circumventing international sanctions,” the IDF says.
Yesterday, the IRGC confirmed the killing of Eshaghi following the Israeli strike on Saturday.
The commander of Iran’s ballistic missile forces in Kermanshah was killed in a recent Israeli airstrike, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin claimed in a press conference.
“During the holiday, we eliminated Mukram Azimi, the commander of the ballistic missile unit in the Kermanshah area. Azimi was responsible for many missile launches at Israel,” he says.
Defrin also says the IDF killed three battalion commanders in Iran’s ballistic missile forces, “who led the fire on Israel.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announce attack on Amazon cloud computer center in Bahrain
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says that it targeted an Amazon cloud computing center in Bahrain in retaliation for attacks on Iran, according to a statement carried by state media.
Meanwhile, The secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) called Thursday for the UN Security Council to authorize the use of force to protect the Strait of Hormuz from Iranian attacks.
Iran has placed a stranglehold on the key shipping lane — threatening fuel supplies and buckling the global economy — in retaliation to US-Israeli strikes that triggered the month-old Middle East war.
“Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz, prevented commercial vessels and oil tankers from transiting, and imposed conditions on some to pass through the Strait,” said Jassem al-Budaiwi, head of the GCC.
He spoke in New York at the first Security Council meeting on cooperation with the GCC, which comprises Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman.
“We call upon the Security Council to assume its full responsibility and take all necessary measures to protect maritime routes and ensure the safe continuation of international navigation,” al-Budaiwi said.
Bahrain has proposed a draft resolution that would greenlight states to use “all necessary measures” to assure free transit through the Strait of Hormuz.
However, the measure has divided the 15-member Security Council.
According to diplomatic sources, Russia, China and France — who each hold veto privileges — have voiced strong objections despite several modifications to the text.
“We want a Security Council decision that addresses the situation comprehensively with the root causes, and not one-sided and unbalanced,” Anna Evstigneeva, deputy representative of Iran-allied Russia, said Wednesday.
French President Emmanuel Macron has said that a military operation to free the Strait is “unrealistic.”
A fifth version of the draft text was distributed to member states on Thursday.
Around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes through the Strait of Hormuz in peacetime.
Its near-total closure is impacting global supplies of important commodities, including oil, liquid natural gas, and fertilizer. That has led to a sharp rise in energy prices.