Tehran refuses to back down as Hormuz remains global pain point
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JERUSALEM / TEHRAN: A day after Iranian forces launched a punishing series of retaliatory attacks against Israel, the country’s president said that “threats and terror” would only make the country more unified.
The message from Masoud Pezeshkian came after Trump threatened to attack Iran’s power plants if the Strait of Hormuz was not fully reopened, and called on other nations to help end the closure.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Washington is “already starting to see them (Nato) answer the president’s call” on unblocking the Strait of Hormuz.
After US President Donald Trump slammed Nato allies as “cowards” and urged them to secure the Strait of Hormuz, a statement from the leaders of mainly European countries — including the UK, France, Italy and Germany, but also South Korea, Australia, the UAE and Bahrain — “express[ed their] readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait”.
But in a post on X, Pezeshkian has said Iran will “firmly confront delirious threats on the battlefield”, adding that the Strait of Hormuz “is open to all except those who violate our soil”.
Tehran has threatened to completely close off the Strait if its power infrastructure is destroyed in further US-Israeli attacks.
“We have repeatedly stated that the Strait of Hormuz is only closed to enemies and harmful traffic; it has not yet been completely closed and is under our intelligent control,” a statement from Iran’s central command authority, the Khatam al-Anbiya, pointed out.
It also threatened energy infrastructure, and information and communications technology infrastructure in Israel, as well as American companies and power plants in countries hosting US bases.
Iran is ready to cooperate with the International Maritime Organisation to improve maritime safety and protect seafarers in the Gulf, the Iranian representative to the UN maritime agency said.
Ali Mousavi said the Strait of Hormuz remains open to all shipping except vessels linked to “Iran’s enemies”, adding that passage through the narrow waterway was possible by coordinating security and safety arrangements with Tehran.
Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who stirred controversy after it was announced that Washington was lifting sanctions on Iranian oil, has said that the US may need to “escalate” its attacks against Iran to be able to wind down the war, after President Donald Trump gave seemingly contradictory trajectories for the US military campaign.
Asked if Trump was winding down or escalating the war, Bessent said: “They’re not mutually exclusive. Sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate.
“This is the only language the Iranians understand,” he argued.
Asked on NBC about the contradiction of lifting oil sanctions during a war with Iran, Bessent defended the move as one that could help alleviate pressure on US partners and lower the price Iran can receive for its oil.
“That Iranian oil was always going to be sold to the Chinese. It was going to be sold at a discount … So which is better? If oil prices spiked to $150 and they (Iran) were getting 70 per cent of that, or oil prices below 100?”
Bessent has also refused to put a timeline on when Americans should expect prices to moderate, while arguing that the electorate will agree that removing Iran’s nuclear threat will be worth the temporary costs.
“I don’t know whether it’s going to be 30 days. I don’t know whether it’s going to be 50 days. I don’t know whether it’s going to be 100 days,” he said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has written to the UN Security Council (UNSC), requesting that it condemn US-Israeli strikes on the country’s nuclear facilities.
“Without delay, it should condemn this aggression, compel the aggressors to immediately cease all their illegal attacks, and obligate them to fully compensate and pay reparations for all damages and harms inflicted, including to Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities and sites,” Fars adds.
Tehran marked the end of the month of Ramazan as the war entered its fourth week. The occasion also coincided with Persian new year celebrations.
Iran’s supreme leader traditionally leads Eidul Fitr prayers, but it was the head of the judiciary, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, who attended prayers at central Tehran’s overflowing Imam Khomeini grand mosque.
Meanwhile, Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB quoted the country’s Health Minister Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi as saying the US-Israeli war has killed 210 children and injured a further 1,510.
The minister added that attacks have so far damaged 300 health, treatment and emergency centres.
US Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper claimed American warplanes had dropped 5,000-pound bombs on an underground Iranian coastal facility storing anti-ship cruise missiles and mobile launchers, leaving Tehran’s ability to threaten the waterway “degraded”.
Centcom also said it destroyed an Iranian military facility earlier this month, where close, short and medium-range ballistic missiles were being built.
In a post on X, it identified the site as the Kuh-e Barjamali Ballistic Missile Assembly Facility and attached before-and-after satellite photos of the complex. The facility is located in the Barjamali Hills, southeast of Tehran.
The Israeli military also claimed to have struck a facility inside a Tehran university allegedly used “to develop nuclear weapon components and weapons”.
Two Iranian missiles struck southern Israel on Saturday, injuring more than 100 people, tearing open the facades of buildings and leaving large craters.
Hours earlier, 33 were wounded in nearby Dimona, where footage showed a large hole gouged into the ground next to piles of rubble and twisted metal.
Dimona hosts a facility widely believed to be the site of the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal, although Israel has never admitted to possessing nuclear weapons.
Iran said the targeting of Dimona was retaliation for Israeli strikes on its Natanz nuclear facility.
Following the Natanz attack, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi reiterated his call for “military restraint to avoid any risk of a nuclear accident”.
Iran’s claims that all six Gulf Cooperation Council member states are responsible for military operations are “baseless”, the bloc’s Secretary‑General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi has said, Al Jazeera reported.
Albudaiwi also reiterated his strong condemnation of Iran’s “continued blatant and treacherous attacks on GCC member states, including the deliberate targeting of infrastructure and oil facilities”.
His comments come amid a growing rift between Iran and the Gulf countries — Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, Kuwait and Oman.
The UAE said it faced aerial attacks after Iran warned it against allowing strikes from its territory on disputed islands near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry also said that a drone has been intercepted and destroyed over the country’s eastern region.
Qatar is said to be closely watching out for further attacks by Iran after the air strikes on its Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility, an official says.
“We are currently focused on defending our country and addressing the situation following the LNG attacks. We are not currently engaged in any mediation efforts,” a Qatari diplomat told Al Jazeera.
If the war in the Middle East drags out for more than six months, economies around the world will suffer “real impacts”, AFP reported, quoting the head of French oil giant TotalEnergies.
“If it’s more than six months, we will have some real impacts. All the economies of the world will be damaged,” Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne has said in an interview with Chinese state broadcaster CGTN.
