Iran Retaliates After Trump Signals Airstrikes: "All Remaining Infrastructure Will Be Destroyed"

[Financial News, New York = Lee Byung-chul, correspondent] After U.S. President Donald Trump publicly warned that he would attack key Iranian infrastructure, including power plants and bridges, next week, Iran said the Strait of Hormuz is "an absolute red line" and threatened retaliation against infrastructure across the Middle East. As the United States and Iran openly discuss striking each other's critical national infrastructure, tensions in the Middle East are edging toward all-out war.
On the 16th local time, Iran's top military command said in a Telegram statement that if Trump's threat is carried out, "everything that remains now, that is, all infrastructure in the Middle East, will be completely destroyed under the powerful blows of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran." It added that there would be "not even a trace left, as if it had never existed from the beginning."
Iran also stressed that it would "never allow the United States to interfere in the Strait of Hormuz in any way" and called the waterway "an absolute red line for Iran."
The warning was a direct response to Trump's hard-line remarks.
In a Fox News interview on the 14th, Trump said that if no diplomatic breakthrough is reached, "power plants will be targeted next week, and then bridges." He added, "If they do not come to the negotiating table, I will cripple all of Iran's power plants and all of its bridges."
Iran also hinted that it could expand its retaliation beyond the Strait of Hormuz to the Red Sea.
According to Reuters, the Iranian government reportedly instructed Yemen's pro-Iran Houthi rebels to prepare to block the Red Sea oil shipping route if the United States launches an actual attack. If carried out, both the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea, two of the world's key oil transport chokepoints, could come under threat at the same time.
U.S. military operations also continued.
United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said on the same day that it carried out precision strikes on command-and-control facilities, air defense systems, missile and drone sites, and coastal surveillance facilities to weaken Iran's ability to threaten commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz. It said several areas, including Bandar Abbas, were among the targets.
Iran's Foreign Ministry also reiterated its willingness to retaliate, saying, "Our hands are not tied" and "We will respond to U.S. attacks with all our strength."




pride@fnnews.com Lee Byung-chul, correspondent Reporter