Soon after Trumpโs warning, Iran issued a counter warning and said it will not hesitate and double the strikes with new launch platforms. Iran also said all diplomatic channels and indirect talks have been frozen following Trumpโs recent threats.
We will double our strikes: Iran to US
โWe will double our strikes with new launch platforms for Fatah and Khaybar Shekan missiles,โ IRGC Aerospace Force Commander said in a communication.
Iran’s elite Guards the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) threatened to take the war beyond the Middle East, in a warning to the US as it ramps up attacks on Tehran’s energy assets and critical infrastructure ahead of a deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
“If the American terrorist army crosses the red lines, our response will be beyond the region. We have not been and will not be starting an attack on non-civilian targets; however, we will not hesitate to retaliate against the despicable aggressions on civilian facilities,” said the IRGC said in its latest communication.
IRGC threatens to target infrastructure in the region
Moreover, the IRGC threatened to target infrastructure that would “deprive the US and its allies of oil and gas in the region for years.”
Saying that it has exercised great restraint for the sake of good neighbourliness and have had some reservations in choosing targets for retaliation, the IRGC said all these reservations have since been removed.
The development comes after US President Donald Trump warned that a “whole civilisation will die tonight” if Iran does not meet his latest deadline for the Islamic Republic to agree to a deal that includes reopening the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
US airstrikes hit two bridges and a train station in Iran
The warning came as airstrikes hit two bridges and a train station in Iran, and Iranian officials urged young people to form human chains to protect power plants. Trump has extended previous deadlines but suggested the one set for 8 pm in Washington was final, and the rhetoric on both sides reached a fever pitch, leaving Iranians on edge.
Trump threatened to destroy all of Iran’s power plants and bridges if Tehran does not allow traffic to fully resume in the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil transits in peacetime.
Iran’s president said 14 million people, including himself, have volunteered to fight. It was not clear if the latest airstrikes were linked to Trump’s threat to attack bridges. At least two of the targets were connected to Iran’s rail network, which Israel earlier signalled it might attack.
Israel has increasingly carried out strikes that it says are aimed at delivering a blow to Iran’s economy. Iran, meanwhile, fired on Israel and Saudi Arabia, prompting the temporary closure of a major bridge.
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