‘Watch what happens’ – Donald Trump issues new threat to Iran
US President Donald Trump issued a new threat online to Iran, writing: “Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today.”
Mr Trump made the post on Friday on his Truth Social website, saying: “Iran’s Navy is gone, their Air Force is no longer, missiles, drones and everything else are being decimated, and their leaders have been wiped from the face of the earth.
“They’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them.
“What a great honor it is to do so!”
It comes after Iran’s secretive new leader issued his first public statements on Thursday, resolving to keep fighting, promising more pain for Gulf Arab states and threatening to open “other fronts” in a war that has already disrupted world energy supplies, the global economy and international travel.
The hard-line stance revealed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei followed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying his country’s attacks were creating conditions for the Iranian population to topple the government.
“It is in your hands,” Mr Netanyahu said at a news conference, addressing the Iranian people. “We are creating the optimal conditions for the fall of the regime.”
Since the start of the war, US and Israeli strikes have targeted security checkpoints in Iran to undermine the government’s ability to suppress dissent, according to Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, the US-based independent monitoring group known as ACLED.
Intense airstrikes hit early on Friday around Iran’s capital, Tehran, as well as outlying areas. It was not immediately clear what had been targeted.
The war continued to escalate on its 13th day as oil prices spiralled up again to 100 dollars (£75) per barrel, and stocks sank worldwide over fears that the conflict could drag on longer than hoped.
To relieve the surge in prices, the US Treasury Department announced it was further easing sanctions on Russian oil by granting a licence that authorises the delivery and sale of some Russian crude oil and petroleum products for the next month.
The new exemption applies only to Russian oil already at sea. Last week, analysts estimated there were about 125 million barrels loaded on tankers.
Iran has made clear it plans to keep up attacks on energy infrastructure across the region and use the effective closure of the strait as leverage against the United States and Israel. A fifth of the world’s traded oil flows through the waterway leading from the Persian Gulf towards the Indian Ocean.
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