Fra internationale nyhedsbrueauer:
- No mention of ceasefire while vowing to keep hitting Iran ‘extremely hard’ in Wed. night Trump speech. Escalating tit-for-tat overnight strikes. Oil drops on reports of Iran-Oman coordination to reopen strait.
- US intelligence assessments say Iran is not ready to negotiate given it believes it has the strategic upper-hand, and doesn’t believe Trump is ‘serious’ about talks: NYT
- Highest bridge in Iran, connecting Tehran and Karaj, destroyed – amid reports of expanding attacks on civilian infrastructure. Iran threatens Port of Haifa in response.
- UK’s Starmer chairs virtual summit of over 30 countries to discuss methods of how to reopen Hormuz Strait
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Iran, Oman Reportedly Coordinating on Reopening Strait of Hormuz
Emerging headlines say that Iran is drafting a protocol with Oman for the potential reopening of Strait of Hormuz traffic, per state IRNA:
Kazem Gharibabadi, Legal and International Deputy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, pointed out that even in peaceful conditions, the traffic of ships should be monitored and coordinated with the coastal countries, Iran and Oman, and said: “Of course, these requirements will not mean restrictions, but to facilitate and ensure safe passage and provide better services to ships that pass through this route.”
And Bloomberg also confirms: “Iran is drafting a protocol with Oman to monitor traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, state-run IRNA reports, citing Iran Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi.”
After earlier headlines suggesting a prolonged war (and thus Hormuz closure), this note of optimism has pushed oil prices down once again.
Tit-For-Tat Escalation of Strikes in Overnight Hours
By many accounts the overnight hours saw one of the largest Iranian missile attacks on Israel, with multiple salvos sent since midnight and many cluster munitions. Several Israelis were wounded, including reports of children and infants. Via Bloomberg:
After US President Trump last night pledged more aggressive attacks in coming weeks, Iran’s army chief ramped up threats, saying that “if the enemy attempts a ground operation, not a single person should survive,” as the US ordered thousands of troops to the region.
One particularly alarming escalation is that the Houthis have now joined in on Iran’s ballistic missile attacks, with the Yemeni group said to be coordinating the strike waves with Tehran, and alongside Hezbollah in the north. At least 50 rockets were fired out of southern Lebanon alone on northern Israel and Haifa, resulting in some injuries but no reports of fatalities. Israel has hit back, bombing at least 40 Hezbollah infrastructure targets in Lebanon in the past 24 hours, killing 10 operatives – per regional military reports.
Among overnight Iranian targets included a Ground Forces base, ballistic missile storage, and sites near Isfahan, international reports say. There have also been reports of recent strikes on Jordan, northern Iraq, as well as the Gulf states, with Qatar demanding that Tehran pay compensation for its immense losses and damage.
Oil Prices Surge After Trump Vows To Hit Iran ‘Extremely Hard’ In Speech
“Tonight, Iran’s navy is gone, their air force is in ruins, their leaders, most of them… are now dead. Their command and control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is being decimated as we speak,” President Trump stated in his address from the White House last night. “Their ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed, and their weapons factories and rocket launchers are being blown to pieces, very few of them left.” Trump said further that the United States is “on the cusp of ending Iran’s sinister threat to America and the world.“
He declared that Israel and the United States are nearing their main goals in the war against Iran and that the conflict would end soon, though he gave no clear timeline. He repeatedly emphasized the war was close to finishing in his address, but didn’t define what ‘mission accomplished’ would look like exactly. The key thing is that no concrete timeline was given.
In the speech, Trump highlighted the “swift, decisive and overwhelming” blows delivered to Iran over the past four weeks, calling them “victories like few people have ever seen before.” He did not specify when operations would end but said the US would strike Iran “extremely hard” over the next two-three weeks while negotiations continue. There was more talk of sending Iran “back to the stone age” – after in the past declaring that the US would “help” them:
“We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong.”
