Trump vows more strikes as Iran warns of wider retaliation

Washington: Prospects for a quick halt to the war involving Iran appeared to recede on Thursday after US President Donald Trump signalled a tougher military approach, while Iranian military and political officials issued fresh warnings and announced new retaliatory actions.

In a televised address on Wednesday night, Trump said the US military had nearly achieved its objectives in Iran, but he did not provide a clear timetable for ending the conflict, which he said was now in its fifth week after the US and Israel launched the war on February 28. He said the United States would finish the job very fast and declared that Iran would be bombed back into the Stone Ages.

We have all the cards, Trump said from the White House in his first primetime address since the war began. They have none.

Trump said he expected the war to continue for another two to three weeks, though he also said he believed the conflict was nearing its conclusion. He did not spell out how issues such as Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile or access through the Strait of Hormuz would be resolved. He said the waterway would open naturally once the war ended.

Earlier, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said Iran would take necessary actions to stop the Strait of Hormuz from being used for military aggression against the country, according to Tasnim News Agency. Baqaei also said a US missile strike on a sports hall in Lamerd, Fars, on Feb. 28 killed 21 civilians, including teenagers.

The American new #PrSM missile struck a crowded sports hall filled with innocent teenagers, he said in a statement on X.

Baqaei described the strike as a despicable war crime and accused the United States of deliberately targeting civilians.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had struck and destroyed an Amazon cloud computing centre in Bahrain in retaliation for recent assassinations, though it did not provide evidence for the claim.

In the first action against spy and terrorist technology companies, the cloud computing center of Amazon company in Bahrain was attacked and destroyed, the IRGC said.

The navy command of the IRGC claimed it had launched an attack on a data centre belonging to Oracle in Dubai, according to Iranian state media.

Iran’s army chief Amir Hatami warned against any US ground operation and said military commanders had been instructed to closely track American troop movements and respond when necessary.

In the event the enemy attempts a ground operation, no one should survive, Hatami said in comments carried by state broadcaster IRIB.

It is necessary to monitor the enemy's movements and actions with utmost precision and extreme caution, moment by moment, and to implement plans to counter its attack methods at the appropriate time, he said.

The spectre of war must be removed from our country, and security must prevail for all, as it is unacceptable for places to be safe while our people are in danger, he added.

A spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, quoted by Fars news agency, rejected US and Israeli assessments of Iranian military losses.

As we said, we announce to the Zionist-American enemies that your information about our military power and equipment is incomplete. You are completely ignorant of our enormous and strategic capabilities, the spokesperson said.

Do not think that you have destroyed our strategic missile production centres, our long-range offensive drones, modern air defence and electronic warfare systems, or our special equipment—because such assumptions will only make matters worse, he said.

The centres you imagine are of little importance, and our strategic military production is taking place in places you do not know and will never be able to reach, he added.

After the powerful and unbelievable blows you have received so far, expect from us actions that are stronger, wider, and more destructive, he said.

He further said the war would continue until Iran’s adversaries wither, are humiliated, regret completely, and surrender.

Meanwhile, local media reported that a US-Israeli strike on the B1 bridge near Karaj, about 40 kilometres west of Tehran, killed at least two people and cut a key route under construction between Tehran and Karaj. Fars News Agency, citing a local security official, said several strikes hit the bridge on Thursday. Mizan described the crossing as the tallest bridge in the Middle East. Local media said it had been designed to reduce travel time between Tehran and Karaj from one hour to 10 minutes and had been regarded as a point of pride for Iranian engineers.

More than 40 countries joined a virtual meeting hosted by the United Kingdom to discuss every possible measure to loosen Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, though the meeting ended without formal conclusions. The exchange came amid growing tensions between French President Emmanuel Macron and Trump, who has pressed allies to reopen the strait by any means necessary.

According to the International Maritime Organization, Iran’s effective closure of the strait has left nearly 2,000 vessels trapped inside the Persian Gulf. Aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin said the strait remained open to Russia.

Trump also urged NATO members to send naval vessels into the Strait of Hormuz and again criticised the alliance.

They gotta get guts and go in and just send your ships up there and enjoy it, he told Politico.

I couldn't care less. I didn't need them, Trump said when asked if he was frustrated with NATO.

But if I ever did need them, they wouldn't be there, he added.

NATO allies have criticised Trump for launching the war with Iran without consulting them. Trump had previously called alliance members cowards and told The Telegraph that NATO was a paper tiger and that leaving the alliance was beyond reconsideration. A 2023 law prevents a US president from withdrawing from NATO without the support of a two-thirds majority in the US Senate.

Trump is due to meet NATO chief Mark Rutte in Washington next week, according to The Wall Street Journal.

A former Pentagon adviser described Trump’s recent remarks as suggesting he was desperate to secure a deal with Iran to end the conflict.