President Donald Trump warned Iran on Wednesday that the U.S. will bomb a bridge or power plant for each time Tehran fires at a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, the vital oil chokepoint that has remained largely closed to shipping traffic since Trump initiated military action against Iran.
Trump’s threat to devastate Iran’s critical civilian infrastructure, which would likely amount to a war crime if realized, came hours before he flew to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to attend the dignified transfer of four U.S. military service members killed while supporting the war effort.
All four died amid escalating attacks in the Middle East that followed the collapse of the temporary ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran earlier this month.
Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, was killed during an Iranian attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan on Friday; 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, died Sunday from injuries sustained during that attack; Army Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, New York, is believed to have died during the same Iranian strike; and Army Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, was killed Saturday in northern Iraq in an attempt to detonate unexploded ordnance from an Iranian drone, according to U.S. Central Command.
Asked for his message to the families of the fallen soldiers and to Americans who are against the war, Trump said, “Americans aren’t against the war.”
“Americans don’t want high gasoline prices, but they’re not against the war. That just came out loud and clear in a poll. Nobody wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon. You want Iran to have a nuclear weapon? You think it’s good?” Trump said, ahead of his departure for the ceremony.
The president earlier said without evidence that each of the four U.S. military service members who died “said very strongly, we can’t let, we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” before suggesting the continued U.S. military campaign in Iran is a way to “honor them.”
Eighteen U.S. military service members have died and at least 500 more have been wounded since Trump launched his military campaign with Israel in Iran on Feb. 28, according to Pentagon figures. The war has grown increasingly unpopular ahead of November’s midterm elections, as American voters have lost patience with high gas and grocery prices and with the resurgence of fighting.
Peace negotiations between Washington and Tehran have all but perished after a framework deal that set the terms for further talks between the two countries collapsed in July, with each country accusing the other of having violated the terms of the agreement after disputes over freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and sanctions led to tit-for-tat strikes.
The U.S. launched a fresh wave of strikes on Iran overnight Tuesday, prompting Iran to retaliate by targeting energy infrastructure and water desalination plants in U.S.-allied Gulf countries.
The countries have traded strikes consistently over the past two weeks, with Iran focusing on neighboring nations where American military bases are located. Iran has again closed the Strait of Hormuz — access to which has become a major factor as a result of the war — and the U.S. resumed its blockade of Iranian ports and renewed crippling sanctions on Iranian oil.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said the U.S. has “no interest in meeting” with Iranian negotiators.
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