Trump threatens to strike Iran power plants unless deal reached – Middle East crisis live | US-Israel war on Iran
US launching further strikes on Iran
The US military is launching further attacks on Iran, its Central Command said.
It wrote on X: “At 3 p.m. ET today, U.S. Central Command forces began launching an additional round of strikes against Iran to continue degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
“The strikes are taking place as American forces prepare to resume the naval blockade against Iranian ports and coastal areas. The blockade goes into effect at 4 p.m. ET.”
Iran’s state news agency IRNA is reporting the sound of three consecutive explosions in Bandar Abbas.
Key events
Kuwait’s fire force says a blaze at one site has been brought under control after it was targeted in Iranian attacks, with no injuries reported, according to the Kuwaiti state news agency.
Trump also told Fox News that he would expand US strikes on Iran next week to target power plants and bridges if Tehran does not make a deal.
Next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants. Next week comes the bridges,” Trump said. 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.”
Trump says strikes will continue until he says it’s enough
Speaking in an interview on Fox News, president Donald Trump said that strikes will continue on Iran until “I say it’s enough”.
They [Iran] have some fight left but they don’t have much.”
Coral Murphy Marcos
Over in the US, after Senate Democrats blocked the advancement of a defense bill earlier on Tuesday, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said that Democrats will “not go along” with Donald Trump’s continuing hostilities with Iran.
“Donald Trump is dragging America deeper into a war in Iran with no authorization, no plan, and no exit strategy. Democrats will not go along,” Schumer said in a statement on social media, reposting a news article about the hold-up of the National Defense Authorization Act. He added:
Senate Democrats just sent a clear message: the day after Trump notifies the extension of this unauthorized war, defies bipartisan majorities in Congress, and refuses to level with the American people about the cost, the mission, or the endgame, we will not proceed as if business is usual while our servicemembers’ lives are at risk and Trump drives costs for groceries and gas out of control.
And Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency is now reporting several explosions in Bampur and Chabahar in southern Iran. The exact location of these explosions was not immediately clear.
Per Al Jazeera, the Mehr news agency is quoting the Hormozgan Governorate officials as saying there were no civilian casualties or damage to residential and commercial properties following the latest US attacks on Iran, which included the port city of Bandar Abbas.
Iran’s state-run IRNA earlier reported impacts in the eastern part of Bandar Abbas and several blasts between the city of Sirik and the village of Tahrouyi. Per CNN, IRNA said a location near Sirik was hit at around 11pm local time (3.30pm ET) by “American projectiles”.
The United States is supporting efforts by Iraq and Syria to reconstruct a crude oil pipeline between the two countries, a US state department official said on Tuesday.
In comments reported by Reuters, the official said the US expects American companies to play a role in advancing the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the pipeline, which could help oil producers avoid the strait of Hormuz off the coast of Iran.
The US expects American companies to play a role in advancing the construction of the Kirkuk-Baniyas pipeline, which has been mostly out of service since suffering damage during the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
The revitalized pipeline would run from Iraqi oilfields near Kirkuk to Syria’s western coast. It is one of several efforts by oil producers in the region to lessen dependence on the strait, through which 20% of the world’s oil and gas flowed before the US-Israeli war on Iran began on 28 February.
The United States has re-imposed a blockade of the chokepoint between Iran and Oman after strikes on ships in the strait that Washington blamed on Tehran.
Bloomberg reported earlier on Tuesday that Chevron could play a role in rebuilding the pipeline.
“As a matter of policy we do not comment on third party statements or matters of a commercial nature,” Chevron said in response to a Reuters request for comment.
Kuwait’s defence ministry has said four Kuwaiti Naval Force personnel were wounded after Iranian attacks targeted a vessel.
It added that Iran launched one ballistic missile, five cruise missiles and 33 drones towards Kuwait on Tuesday, all of which were intercepted.
It said the attacks also targeted civilian infrastructure and that shrapnel fell in various locations across the country, causing material damage.
US resumes naval blockade of Iranian ports
The United States has resumed the naval blockade of Iranian ports as of 4pm ET, with Centcom saying there are “currently more than 20 US Navy warships and hundreds of military aircraft operating across the Middle East”.
The US has issued new Iran-related sanctions and a general license, according to details posted to the Treasury Department’s website.
The sanctions target several individuals, entities and vessels, while the general license allows wind down activities, limited safety and environmental transactions, and the offloading of cargo involving certain persons or vessels blocked on July 14, the Treasury Department said.
The Strait of Hormuz is part of Iran’s national security and it will exercise its sovereignty over it what ever that costs, Iran’s deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said in interview with state TV on Tuesday.
Tehran currently has no commitments when it comes to the Islamabad MoU signed with the US last month, Gharibabadi added.
US launching further strikes on Iran
The US military is launching further attacks on Iran, its Central Command said.
It wrote on X: “At 3 p.m. ET today, U.S. Central Command forces began launching an additional round of strikes against Iran to continue degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
“The strikes are taking place as American forces prepare to resume the naval blockade against Iranian ports and coastal areas. The blockade goes into effect at 4 p.m. ET.”
Iran’s state news agency IRNA is reporting the sound of three consecutive explosions in Bandar Abbas.
Iran strikes drone ramp at Kuwaiti airbase
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it has struck a drone ramp at Kuwait’s Ali Al Salem airbase, adding the attacks were in response to US strikes.
Kuwait’s army said one of its navy vessels was targeted with four personnel injured, Reuters reports.
The injured personnel received medical treatment and are in a stable condition, the statement added.
Kuwait’s armed forces had detected and intercepted one ballistic missile, five cruise missiles and 33 drones on Tuesday’s attacks, which targeted several vital and civilian facilities, with debris falls caused material damage.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said as long as US “evil actions” continue in the region, “not a single drop of oil and gas” would be exported from the region, Iranian state media reported.
IRGC also said US “aggressions” would have no result other than to delay the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, adding that their attacks on what it described as U.S. facilities in Kuwait and Bahrain came in response to the White House-ordered attacks on Iran.