President Donald Trump on Friday issued a fresh threat online, claiming that the US was “totally destroying” Iran – militarily, economically, and otherwise. He also issued a warning, saying: “Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today.”
“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,” Trump wrote in the Truth Social post.
“We have unmatched firepower, unlimited ammunition, and plenty of time – Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today,” Trump warned.
“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,” Trump wrote. “What a great honor it is to do so!”
American and Israeli strikes pounded the Islamic Republic shortly after Trump posted this new threat, while Iran attacked Persian Gulf shipping and energy infrastructure.
The comments came the day after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei vowed to “not refrain from avenging the blood” of Iranians killed, and warned Gulf Arab nations to shut US bases, saying the notion of American protection was “nothing more than a lie.”
Latest updates on the US-Israel-Iran war
The US and Israel hit Tehran with intense airstrikes early on Friday, just before rallies were to begin for the annual Quds Day event in support of the Palestinians.
Israel said its air force had hit more than 200 targets in Iran over the past 24 hours, including missile launchers, defense systems and weapons production sites.
Meanwhile, Iran has been attacking oil and other infrastructure around the Gulf region, and on Friday, Saudi Arabia said it had downed nearly 50 drones sent in multiple waves throughout the early morning hours.
In Oman, two people were killed when two drones crashed in an industrial area in the region of Sohar, the Oman News Agency reported.
Sirens also sounded in Bahrain, warning of incoming fire, and in Dubai, black smoke billowed from an industrial area after a blaze authorities said was sparked by debris from an interception.
A building at the Dubai International Financial Center also sustained damage when hit with debris from what authorities described as a “successful interception.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said a French soldier was killed in an attack targeting Irbil in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region. France earlier said six soldiers had been hurt in a drone strike in Irbil, where French troops are deployed as part of a multinational counterterrorism mission supporting Iraqi forces in their fight against Islamic State militants.
Crude oil prices
With growing global concerns about a possible energy crisis and no end to the war in sight, the price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, remained stubbornly over $100 per barrel as Iran kept its stranglehold on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil transits on its way from the Persian Gulf to the open seas.
Brent prices have spiked as high as about $120 per barrel and are currently some 40% higher than when Israel and the United States attacked Iran on February 28 to start the war.
