A bridge for a boat: Trump issues dramatic Strait of Hormuz threat

US President Donald Trump has warned the Military will destroy one bridge or power plant each time Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump’s latest threat to target civilian infrastructure came on Wednesday (early Thursday AEST) as the unpopular war spirals with no clear off-ramp, threatening further worldwide economic disruption and sending fuel prices up ahead of midterm US elections this fall. 

Both sides have dug in on their dispute over the strait, a crucial waterway for global energy that remains largely closed because of Iranian attacks.

The US carried out another wave of strikes on Iran overnight into Wednesday, and air defences opened fire over the capital, Tehran. Iran launched a missile attack on a Jordanian city on Israel’s doorstep, and alerts were issued in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

With negotiations largely stalled, both sides have sought leverage by targeting civilian infrastructure. 

Iran has responded to US attacks by targeting energy infrastructure and desalination plants that provide drinking water in parched neighbouring Gulf countries.

International law generally prohibits such attacks unless the infrastructure is being used for military purposes. 

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres decried such attacks as “unacceptable” on Tuesday.

The costs of war are mounting

The closure of the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil and gas passed during peacetime, has jolted the world economy with effects far beyond the Middle East. 

A new threat by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen to target Saudi shipping in the Red Sea puts another trade choke point at risk.

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“From this point forward, any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, Drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT,” Trump wrote on social media on Wednesday

Trump was due at Dover Air Force Base on Wednesday as the remains of four US service members were scheduled to arrive. 

A day earlier, his defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, estimated in a fiery Senate hearing that the US had spent $US37.5 billion ($53.6 billion) on the war so far. 

Benchmark Brent crude oil rose to around $US94 ($134) a barrel in trading, and petrol prices are once again climbing.

Attacks shake Iran and Jordan

Jordan’s military said it intercepted four Iranian missiles over Aqaba, while two others fell in “uninhabited areas”. Plumes of smoke could be seen overhead in videos filmed by people in the nearby Israeli city of Eilat. Jordan said it also intercepted four Iranian drones.

Iran has avoided striking Israel since hostilities resumed last month, apparently hoping to keep it from reentering the war. But the attack on Aqaba, within sight of Israel’s Eilat, raised concerns over a further widening of the conflict after an agreement to halt hostilities collapsed.

Another missile alert sounded in Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia warned residents of the Persian Gulf city of Dammam to seek shelter. Saudi authorities later said the danger had passed, without elaborating.

The US military said earlier on Wednesday that it had completed an 11th night of strikes on Iran, with targets including aircraft hangars and drone storage sites.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported explosions across several provinces. Iran’s Health Ministry says US strikes over the past 11 days have killed 53 people, including six women and three children, and wounded nearly 600 people.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard insisted its retaliatory attacks would continue.