Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened fresh military strikes against Iran after saying recent Iranian attacks signalled the end of an interim ceasefire, but later said the latest exchange of fire did not mean a return to full-scale war.
The remarks came a day after attacks on commercial shipping widened into strikes on Iranian and US military targets, raising fears that the conflict could flare up again even as talks on a permanent settlement continue.
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Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to escalate strikes in the past before pulling back while citing diplomatic progress, said the US would “probably hit them hard again tonight”. He later added that the latest fighting would not lead to “long-term” military action. “Anything that happens is going to happen very fast,” Trump said, while also suggesting the US military might “just finish the job”.
A day after assaults on commercial shipping escalated, Trump also renewed earlier threats to target Iranian civilian infrastructure, including electric plants and desalinisation plants, and to seize the oil-production hub of Kharg Island. Speaking on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkiye, he said the strikes were retaliation for Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. “They are behaving very badly,” he said of Iran, accusing it of launching drones and a missile at ships. After three tankers were hit on Tuesday, the US struck Iran, and Iranian forces responded by attacking American military sites in the Persian Gulf.
Iran has said the interim ceasefire deal gives it the right to manage traffic through the strait. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is involved in talks aimed at a permanent end to the war, wrote on X, “The era of bullying and extortion is over. It leads nowhere. We don’t fold.”
The latest exchange of fire also deepened uncertainty over the ceasefire. Trump said the agreement to pause fighting was “over”, though he added that he would allow negotiations to continue. “For me, I think it’s over,” he said when asked about the ceasefire’s status. “They can talk, but I think they’re wasting their time,” he added. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi replied on X that Trump’s remarks “are not a sign of power but an admission of the failure” of US policy towards Iran.
Oil prices rose after Trump’s comments amid concerns that any renewed conflict could spread across the wider Middle East and again disrupt energy shipments through the strait. Trump has threatened at earlier stages of the war, including last month, to seize Kharg Island, through which about 90 per cent of Iranian oil exports pass.
The new attacks on ships, despite negotiations, could reflect divisions within Iran’s leadership. The report said hardliners want lasting control over the waterway, while pragmatists want a permanent peace deal to ease sanctions and bring economic relief. Final talks had been due to begin after the funeral for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on February 28 in the opening phase of the war. The funeral ends on Thursday and had been expected to mark a period of lower tensions. The talks are meant to focus on reopening the strait fully and rolling back Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme.
The US military’s Central Command said American forces launched strikes “to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway”. It said the strikes hit Iranian air-defence systems, radars and more than 60 small boats used by the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. Those boats have been central to threatening ships in the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas passed before the war. Iran’s ability to nearly halt shipping there during the war became its biggest strategic advantage.
Rising prices for energy supplies, fertiliser and food have also added pressure on the US to reach a deal. Iranian state media reported explosions in several places, including Bandar Mahshahr, where a Revolutionary Guard member was killed. State television said eight members of the Army’s air and naval forces were killed in Bandar Abbas and Bushehr, home to Iran’s nuclear power plant complex.
On Wednesday morning, Bahrain, which hosts the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, and Kuwait, where US Army forces are based, issued missile alerts. The Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted US military installations in both countries. Kuwait said it intercepted two ballistic missiles and 13 drones launched by Iran. Kuwait’s Electricity Ministry said some lines went out of service after shrapnel fell on them.
After the Iranian strikes on shipping, the US revoked a licence that had, for the first time in years, allowed Iran to sell oil openly in US dollars under the interim deal. Under that arrangement, Iran and the US had agreed to allow ships to pass through the strait without charges for 60 days. Tehran, however, has insisted it must control the routes taken by vessels and has said it would later charge fees for passage, a move the US and many Gulf Arab states have rejected. The ships attacked on Tuesday appeared to be travelling close to Oman’s coast rather than on a route ordered by Tehran.
Elsewhere, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Falah al-Zaidi and other Iranian and Iraqi officials attended funeral ceremonies for Khamenei in the Iraqi city of Najaf on Wednesday. His body is to be returned to Iran for burial on Thursday at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, his birthplace.
In sum, Trump’s mixed messages on the ceasefire, the latest military exchanges, and the renewed dispute over shipping in the Strait of Hormuz have kept tensions high, even as US and Iranian officials remain formally engaged in talks on a longer-term settlement.
With PTI Inputs
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
