Timed attacks, threats, blocked ships: the war is gaining momentum again and has long since engulfed the entire region. But the US president also acknowledges a gesture of goodwill to Iran.
After the new attacks and threats by the USA against Iran, a diplomatic solution seems to have moved far away again. The US military launched two attack waves on Wednesday and also attacked a ship that allegedly violated the blockade of Iranian ports.
US President Donald Trump threatened again with the destruction of civilian infrastructure, before striking conciliatory tones a little later. Iran has allowed a US citizen detained at the end of 2024 to leave the country, Trump announced on Truth Social. “The United States of America appreciates this gesture of goodwill on the part of Iran!” Trump did not give details about the woman, he only wrote that she was out of the country and safe.
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Two attack waves in one day
On Wednesday alone, the US military had launched two more attack waves against Iran. The latest one began at 15:00 US East Coast Time (21:00 German time) and ended six hours later, as the US military command responsible for the region (Centcom) announced on Platform X. Command centers, anti-aircraft positions and other military targets were attacked. The attacks have limited Iran’s ability to threaten merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
The government-affiliated Iranian news agency Mehr reported three explosions in the port city of Chabahar. Attacks should also have occurred in Rask in the extreme southeast of the country as well as in the vicinity of Bandar Abbas in the Persian Gulf and in Ahwas in the southwest. The state news agency Irna reported, citing a local authority representative, that four places on the outskirts of Ahwas had been hit. The US military spoke of “numerous targets”, but specifically mentioned only Bandar Abbas and the larger of the two Tunb islands.
Sirens wail in Bahrain
Shortly after the start of the new wave of attacks on targets in Iran, sirens and explosions were again heard in the US-allied Gulf states of Kuwait and Bahrain. The air defense system was activated due to drone attacks, the army of the Emirate of Kuwait announced on Platform X. In Bahrain, the population was called to get to safety.
In the morning, the Gulf state announced that several Iranian airstrikes had been repelled. As in the previous nights, nothing further was known this time either. Both countries are at war, but always the target of Iranian retaliatory attacks.
In Kuwait, the armed forces already on Wednesday intercepted four cruise missiles and 21 drones that had entered the country’s airspace. The US military maintains military bases there as well as in Bahrain and other Arab states in the region.
Jordan also reported renewed shelling from Iran. In the early hours of the morning, eight Iranian rockets, which were aimed at the territory of the Kingdom, were intercepted and shot down. There were no injuries or damage.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed “deep concern” about the ongoing military escalation in the region. He called on all parties involved to immediately de-escalate and return to dialogue and diplomacy. If the hostilities were to resume in full, “catastrophic consequences” threatened, he warned. In addition, Guterres confirmed that free shipping through the Strait of Hormuz must be ensured.
The United States enforces a naval blockade – including attacks on tankers
In addition to the mutual attacks, the US naval blockade against Iranian ports is also causing tension, which the US armed forces are enforcing again after an interim break since Tuesday. Within the first 24 hours, according to their own information, they directed two merchant ships that tried to break through the blockade.
In addition, according to Centcom, the US military attacked an unloaded oil tanker on Wednesday, which was said to be heading for an Iranian port in the Persian Gulf. The ship’s crew ignored various warnings and tried to break through the sea blockade. The ship was traveling in international waters towards the island of Charg, which is important for Iran’s oil industry. The chimney of the ship sailing under the flag of Curaçao was fired with rockets and made it unmanoeuvrable, the US military announced.
During the Iran war, the United States imposed a naval blockade for the first time from mid-April against ships approaching or departing from Iranian ports or coastal areas. This was then lifted in the course of the framework agreement with Tehran in mid-June. During this previous sea blockade, the US military had, according to its own information, diverted more than 140 ships and rendered nine ships unmanoeuvrable, whose crews did not want to cooperate.
The US journalist Tara Kangarlou, who teaches at Georgetown University in Washington, does not believe, however, that the naval blockade will have a greater influence on the Iranian economy. “If Donald Trump plans to take Iran in an economic stranglehold: The Iranians have long found ways to sell their oil,” she told Al Jazeera. There are many alternative export routes – via the Caspian Sea, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey and other ways to bypass the sea blockade.
What was Trump up to?
The “Wall Street Journal” reports, citing US officials, that Trump is tending to expand military action against Iran, but has not yet made a final decision on the next steps. Options are therefore to expand the airstrikes, use ground troops to conquer Iranian islands near the Strait of Hormuz, and the bombing of an Iranian nuclear facility known as “Pickaxe Mountain”. Trump had recently threatened an attack on the complex, which is located in the Kuh-e Kolang mountain south of the Natans nuclear plant in central Iran.
The US president also threatened Iran once again with attacks on civilian infrastructure. When asked by a journalist if he would give Iran an ultimatum before the US military would start bombing bridges, Trump said on Wednesday: “I don’t like setting deadlines.”
Trump: Negotiate or “bring things to an end”
On Tuesday, Trump had said in an interview with the US channel Fox News that next week all power plants and bridges would be destroyed, “unless they (the Iranians) come to the negotiating table and negotiate”. He also announced fierce attacks in the coming nights.
On Wednesday, Trump then repeated his claim that Iran wants to “unconditionally” conclude an agreement to settle the fighting. “They don’t like what we’re doing, and they really want to settle the matter,” Trump said. “We will see if we agree with them or if we simply end the matter.”
Source: Tageblatt
