US President Donald Trump vowed on Wednesday to destroy an Iranian bridge or power plant every time Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, raising the stakes after Ansar Allah in Yemen threatened a second vital energy route. Seven tankers have changed course in the Red Sea to avoid the Bab el Mandeb strait since the Ansar Allah threat on Tuesday to block Saudi oil exports, highlighting a new risk to global oil supplies from the intensifying conflict.
In response to Trump’s threat to Iran’s infrastructure, an Iranian military source cited by Tasnim news agency said Tehran would retaliate against infrastructure in the region. Iran’s near-total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf has stoked inflation around the world, and the new risk to shipping from the Ansar Allah, who control areas near the Bab el Mandeb strait, pushed oil prices to a near six-week high.
Brent crude futures hit more than $95 a barrel before easing back to nearer $93. US gasoline prices, which have weighed on Trump’s poll ratings ahead of midterm elections in November, have climbed back over $4 a gallon.
As the war nears the five-month mark and November legislative elections approach, Trump has faced intense political pressure to end the conflict, which is unpopular even with segments of his base.
Critics have pointed to the cost of the war, which Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday had soared to $37.5 billion, defending a request for tens of billions in additional funding for the military.
But Trump himself has bucked the pressure, saying: “We’re not finished at all... we’re not leaving right now.
Meanwhile, the US military struck Iran’s Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, after President Trump warned he was “not finished” with a war.
Fighting over the strategic strait led to the collapse of a preliminary deal between the United States and Iran, but top US diplomat Marco Rubio again reiterated Washington’s stance that it was willing to find a negotiated agreement with Tehran.
“We remain open to working it out in a negotiated way. But right now, they don’t seem to be serious about that,” Rubio said at a Southeast Asia ministers’ meeting in Manila.
He insisted that the US was right to strike Iran because it was attacking Hormuz shipping and planned to rebuild its missile and drone capabilities.
Iran strengthened its military in anticipation that its adversaries would break agreements, Army Commander-in-Chief Major General Amir Hatami said. Iranian media also cited parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Committee spokesperson Hasan Qashqavi as saying Trump was in a “quagmire”.
An Iranian health ministry official said 53 civilians had been killed and 592 wounded since late last month. The war has led to the deaths of 18 US service members and injured more than 450 troops.
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