President Donald Trump has threatened to escalate attacks on Iran’s civilian infrastructure, declaring the US military “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran” as negotiations through intermediaries show limited progress and domestic pessimism about the war deepens nearly five weeks after it began.
“Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants,” Trump wrote on social media late on Thursday, warning Iran’s leadership that what needed to be done had to be done “FAST.” He earlier posted video of the US bombing a newly constructed bridge between Tehran and the nearby city of Karaj, which had been due to open this year. Iran’s state media reported eight people were killed and 95 wounded in the strike.
“Striking civilian structures, including unfinished bridges, will not compel Iranians to surrender,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in response.
The escalating rhetoric came after Trump’s Wednesday prime-time address — in which he promised heavier strikes over the next two to three weeks and threatened attacks on Iran’s power infrastructure — drew vows of retaliation from Tehran, sent oil prices surging and weighed on global stock markets.
War crimes concerns raised
More than 100 American international law experts wrote on Thursday that the conduct of US forces and statements by senior officials “raise serious concerns about violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, including potential war crimes.” The letter cited a mid-March comment from Trump suggesting the US might strike Iran “just for fun”, as well as remarks by Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth from early March in which he said the US does not fight with “stupid rules of engagement.”
Iran said a second US F-35 fighter jet had been shot down over central Iran by Revolutionary Guard air defences, with low chances of pilot survival. There was no immediate US comment. Last month the US military confirmed a separate F-35 had made an emergency landing after a combat mission over Iran, with its pilot in stable condition.
Attacks continue on both sides
Fighting showed no sign of easing across the region. Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said its Mina al-Ahmadi refinery was struck by drones, igniting fires at operating units, though no injuries were reported. Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said its air defences intercepted seven drones on Friday. Iranian media reported a drone strike on a Red Crescent relief warehouse in southern Bushehr province, destroying two containers. Satellite imagery earlier this week showed smoke rising from the port of Qeshm, an Iranian island strategically positioned in the Strait of Hormuz.
Hormuz standoff deepens
Dozens of countries are seeking ways to restore energy shipments through the strait, which normally carries about a fifth of global oil trade and has been largely closed since Iran began targeting tankers and Gulf infrastructure in retaliation for the US-Israeli assault that began on 28 February.
Britain chaired a virtual meeting of around 40 countries on Thursday to explore restoring freedom of navigation, though no specific agreement was reached. The UN Security Council is set to vote on Saturday on a Bahraini resolution to protect commercial shipping in and around the strait, but China signalled it would oppose any authorisation of force, with its UN envoy warning such action would “inevitably lead to further escalation.”
Iran offered a competing vision, saying it was drafting a protocol with neighbouring Oman that would require ships to obtain permits to transit the waterway. The EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas rejected the proposal outright. “International law doesn’t recognise pay-to-pass schemes,” she wrote on social media.
Fuel shortages are already causing economic strain across Asia and are expected to reach Europe soon. A report by two UN agencies warned that a sharp economic slowdown could trigger a cost-of-living crisis across Africa. Thousands have been killed and tens of thousands injured across the Middle East since the war began, with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies warning that medical needs were rising exponentially and supplies could run low.
(Reuters)