Trump Says US Will Hit Irans Power Plants, Bridges If Tehran Attacks Ships

President Donald Trump on Wednesday warned Iran’s regime that the United States would target the country’s infrastructure each time Tehran launches an attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, as fighting continued for an 11th consecutive day.In a July 22 social media post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that possible targets could include bridges and power plants. Some of them could be targeted in Tehran or close to the capital city.“From this point forward, any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, 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,” Trump wrote.The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) on Tuesday evening confirmed an 11th night of strikes against Iran that it said were meant to “further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”Targets struck inside Iran include military operations centers, maritime capabilities, aircraft hangars, drone storage facilities, and military logistics infrastructure, according to CENTCOM.Iran’s military has, in response, launched attacks against nearby countries in the Middle East that house U.S. military assets and bases. The latest round of attacks was initiated after Tehran attacked multiple ships in the Strait of Hormuz earlier this month.During remarks at the Oval Office on July 21, Trump signaled that negotiations between Tehran and Washington were unlikely to happen soon, saying his administration has “no interest in meeting.”He also said Iranian officials “want to desperately meet” for negotiations with their U.S. counterparts.Although he confirmed there is dialogue behind the scenes, Trump said, “Until they’re ready to meet in a meaningful way, we have no interest in meeting.”“They’re getting decimated,” the president added.An Iranian nuclear facility known as Pickaxe Mountain will soon be struck by the U.S. military “very heavily,” Trump said during the same White House event on Tuesday.Since the start of the conflict, Trump has said that Iran cannot be allowed to procure a nuclear weapon and also said Iran should either dilute its enriched uranium or hand it over to the United States.“We’ll be hitting that area very probably pretty soon,” he said. “There’s not a thing they can do about it. You know, normally I wouldn’t say that. If I thought they could do something about it, I would never say that.”Iran’s military headquarters said through the semi-official IRNA media outlet on July 22 that an attack on Iran’s nuclear or “sensitive facilities” such as Pickaxe Mountain would be an “expansion of the war” in the Middle East.U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Asian leaders on Wednesday that Iran’s demand to collect tolls in the Strait of Hormuz would threaten the world’s economy.“If we create a precedent in the Middle East where a nation state can decide that they are going to control an international waterway, charge a toll, and if you don’t pay them, blow up your ships, we have created a very dangerous precedent which will repeat itself in other parts of the world, including in this region,” he said.On July 21, the U.S. military said that the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway through which a significant portion of the world’s traded oil passes, is open despite Iranian statements to the contrary. It said around 900 commercial ships and 450 million barrels of oil have transited through the strait since May.