President Donald Trump issued a new threat online Friday, claiming the US is “totally destroying” Iran — militarily, economically and otherwise. He also issued a warning: “Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today.
“Iran’s navy is gone, their air force is gone, missiles, drones and everything else is decimated and their leaders have been wiped off the face of the earth,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
“We have unmatched firepower, unlimited ammunition and plenty of time – Watch what happens today with these deranged scumbags,” Trump warned.
“For 47 years they have been killing innocent people around the world and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them,” Trump wrote. “What a great honor to do that!”
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US and Israeli strikes hit the Islamic Republic shortly after Trump made the new threat public, while Iran attacked shipping and energy infrastructure in the Persian Gulf.
The comments came a day after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei vowed “not to avenge the blood” of slain Iranians and warned Gulf countries to close US bases, saying the notion of US protection was “nothing more than a lie”.
The latest updates on the US-Israel-Iran war
The US and Israel hit Tehran with intense airstrikes early Friday, just before the start of the annual Quds Day rally in support of the Palestinians.
Israel said its air force struck more than 200 targets in Iran in the past 24 hours, including missile launchers, defense systems and weapons factories.
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Meanwhile, Iran has been attacking oil and other infrastructure in the Persian Gulf region, and on Friday Saudi Arabia said it shot down nearly 50 drones sent in several waves in the early hours of the morning.
In Oman, two people were killed when two drones crashed in an industrial area in the Sohar region, the Oman News Agency reported.
Sirens also sounded in Bahrain to warn of an oncoming fire, and black smoke billowed from an industrial area in Dubai after authorities said the fire was sparked by debris from a catchment.
A building at the Dubai International Financial Center also suffered damage when it was hit by debris from what authorities described as a “successful interception”.
French President Emmanuel Macron said a French soldier was killed in an attack on Irbil in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. France earlier said six soldiers were wounded in a drone strike in Irbil, where French troops are deployed as part of a multinational counter-terrorism mission to support Iraqi forces in the fight against Islamic State militants.
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Oil prices
With global fears of a possible energy crisis mounting and no end to the war in sight, the price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, remained stubbornly above $100 a barrel as Iran held control over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes on its way from the Persian Gulf to the open sea.
Brent crude oil prices have climbed as high as $120 a barrel and are currently about 40% higher than when Israel and the United States attacked Iran on February 28 to start the war.
