Trump threatens Iran: ‘Any attack by Hormuz will cost you a bridge or a power plant’ | Today’s news
US President Donald Trump warned on Wednesday (July 22nd) that the United States would launch strikes on critical infrastructure in and around Tehran if Iran attacked any vessel passing through the Strait of Hormuz, marking his latest escalation in rhetoric amid the ongoing conflict with Tehran.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said any future Iranian attack on shipping in the strategic waterway would be met with immediate military retaliation.
“From now on, whenever the Islamic Republic of Iran fires at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, be it a rocket, missile, drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT, including those located next to or in the capital city of Tehran.”
His latest warning marked a further escalation of Washington’s rhetoric as both countries increasingly target infrastructure linked to the conflict.
The US and Iran are exchanging new blows
The U.S. military conducted another round of nighttime strikes across Iran, completing its eleventh consecutive night of strikes.
According to the US Central Command (CENTCOM), the attacks targeted aircraft hangars and drone warehouses. Iranian air defense systems were activated over Tehran, while the state-run IRNA reported explosions in several provinces.
Iran responded by launching missiles and drones at the Jordanian Red Sea port city of Aqaba near the southern Israeli city of Eilat.
The Jordanian military said it intercepted four rockets and four drones, while two rockets landed in unpopulated areas. Videos recorded from Eilat showed smoke rising over Aqaba, highlighting the attack’s proximity to Israel.
Missile alerts were also issued in Bahrain, while Saudi Arabia ordered residents of the eastern city of Dammam to seek shelter before later canceling the warning.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said retaliatory operations against US interests would continue.
The Strait of Hormuz remains a flashpoint
The conflict has increasingly focused on the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas trade passes in peacetime.
Iranian attacks on commercial shipping have severely disrupted traffic in the strategic waterway, while Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have threatened Saudi shipping in the Red Sea, raising fears of a wider disruption to global trade.
Brent crude rose to around $94 a barrel, while gasoline prices in the United States continued to rise ahead of the country’s election.
The cost of war continues to rise
The financial and human costs of the conflict continue to mount.
Trump was due to travel to Dover Air Force Base to receive the remains of four US service members killed in the conflict.
A day earlier, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers that the United States had spent $37.5 billion so far on the war.
Iran’s health ministry said US strikes over the past 11 days had killed 53 people, including six women and three children, and wounded nearly 600 others.
Read also | US senators grill Pete Hegseth as cost of Iran war reaches ₹3.62 trillion
Diplomacy remains suspended
Efforts to resume talks have shown little progress despite a visit to Pakistan by Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni. Pakistan is trying to mediate between Washington and Tehran after helping broker an interim ceasefire deal that later collapsed.
Iran’s interior ministry spokesman Ali Zeinivand insisted diplomacy remained alive and said the two sides continued to exchange messages.
At a regional summit in the Philippines, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized Iran’s action in the Strait of Hormuz, warning that allowing a country to control the international waterway by force would set a dangerous global precedent.
In response to Iranian attacks on shipping, the United States has reimposed a blockade of Iranian ports and continues to seek to disrupt Iranian maritime trade.
Trump hints at striking underground nuclear facility
Speaking from the Oval Office a day earlier, Trump dismissed the prospect of new talks, saying the United States was “not interested in meeting” with Iran.
He also suggested that US forces could soon target Pickaxe Mountain, an underground facility near Iran’s Natanz nuclear weapons enrichment complex.
The site remained untouched despite previous US strikes on Natanz during the 2025 Iran-Israel War.
Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful, while the United States and its allies say Tehran’s continued uranium enrichment would allow it to develop nuclear weapons in the future.
Read also | Exploiting Iran’s War Broking? Report Says Pakistan Seeks $10 Billion US Lifeline
