WASHINGTON : President Donald Trump has issued a stark new threat to Iran, vowing to expand U.S. military strikes next week to target the country’s power plants and bridges unless Tehran agrees to negotiate a deal .
In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Trump stated that the ongoing U.S. attacks on Iran “will continue until I say it’s enough” . The President characterized Iran’s military capability as having been “degraded to a very low level” by repeated strikes but cautioned that Iran retains some war-fighting capability .
“Next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants. Next week comes the bridges,” Trump said. “We’re going to knock out all their power plants. We’re going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate” .
Trump revealed that U.S. representatives had been in contact with Iranian officials as recently as Tuesday, delivering a blunt message: “You better make a deal. You’re not going to have anything left” .
In a rapid policy reversal, Trump backed away from his earlier suggestion of imposing a 20 percent toll on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz . Just hours after floating the idea, the President declared that he does not want any tolls charged in the critical waterway, which handles nearly a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil exports .
“We want it open, we want it free. We don’t want tolls. It’s an international waterway,” Trump told reporters, reversing his previous suggestion of a “joint venture” tolling system with Iran .
Instead, the President claimed that Gulf states would invest in the United States rather than pay transit fees .
The Strait of Hormuz has emerged as a major flashpoint in the U.S.-Iran conflict, with U.S. forces recently reimposing a naval blockade against vessels transiting to and from Iranian ports .
