Trump threatens to ‘knock out all’ Iranian power plants and bridges as US continues strikes

US forces continue strikes on Iranian military targets, as President Trump threatens to destroy the country’s infrastructure if Tehran refuses to resume negotiations.

By World Israel News Staff

President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to expand American attacks on Iran to include power plants and bridges unless Tehran returns to negotiations, as the United States restored its naval blockade of Iranian ports and launched another wave of strikes along the country’s southern coast.

Speaking in an interview with Fox News, Trump said American operations would intensify over the coming days before potentially widening to infrastructure targets next week.

“Next week it gets really bad for them,” Trump said.

“We’re going to knock out all their power plants,” he added, saying Iran’s bridges would also be targeted “unless they get to the table and negotiate.”

Trump said US negotiators had remained in contact with Iranian representatives and had delivered a blunt message: “You better make a deal.”

The president said the United States was initially concentrating on Iran’s remaining military capabilities and would reserve attacks on the energy sector for a later stage.

“I’ll save the energy targets for last,” Trump said.

The threats came as US and Iranian forces exchanged attacks for a fourth consecutive day, further undermining a fragile interim agreement reached in June after months of fighting.

US Central Command said the naval blockade resumed at 4 pm Eastern Time on Tuesday and applies to ships traveling to or from Iranian ports and coastal areas. CENTCOM said it would continue supporting commercial vessels using regional waters as long as they were not violating the blockade.

The blockade does not formally apply to ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz to ports elsewhere in the Persian Gulf. Trump declared that “the Strait of Hormuz is open to all ship traffic except for Iran.”

American forces also carried out a seven-hour operation against dozens of Iranian military targets near the strait and along Iran’s coast, according to CENTCOM.

The targets reportedly included air-defense systems, radar sites, missile and drone capabilities and small naval vessels that Washington says could be used to attack commercial shipping.

CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper said American operations were intended to hold Iran responsible for attacks that had endangered civilian mariners and neighboring countries.

The United States says Iran attacked seven commercial ships during the past week, leaving nearly a dozen crew members dead, missing or wounded. Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has acknowledged attacking vessels it accused of ignoring Iranian warnings, but some American and Iranian accounts of the incidents could not be independently confirmed.

Iran responded to the renewed US strikes by launching missiles and drones toward countries hosting American forces.

The IRGC claimed attacks on US-linked military facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan. Jordan said its air defenses intercepted three ballistic missiles entering its airspace from Iran, while Kuwait reported bringing a fire under control following an Iranian attack. Bahrain also activated defenses against incoming launches.

Iranian state television reported that at least seven members of the Iranian military were killed in an American strike on a barracks belonging to the 388th Mechanized Infantry Brigade in southeastern Iran. Iranian officials also said more than 260 people were wounded in the latest round of attacks and that at least 30 civilians had been killed in recent days.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, rejected Trump’s effort to use military pressure and economic isolation to force Tehran back into negotiations. He said Washington was mistaken if it believed intensifying the blockade and attacks would produce Iranian concessions.

The IRGC also threatened to extend the disruption of energy exports beyond Iran if the American blockade continued.

“Regional energy exports are either shared by all, or denied to all,” the IRGC said.

Donald TrumpIranIran warStrait of Hormuz