- This story is developing, more to follow
Iran has threatened Donald Trump with ‘devastating and widespread’ retaliations after the US president yesterday vowed to hit the Middle East nation’s power plants in an expletive-filled social media post.
The Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters – Iran’s highest operational military command unit – said early this morning: ‘If attacks on civilian targets are repeated, the next stages of our offensive and retaliatory operations will be much more devastating and widespread.’
The statement, shared by Iranian broadcasters, came after Trump’s threats to attack civilian infrastructure if the Strait of Hormuz is not opened again.
The US leader said on Sunday: ‘Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran.
‘There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F*****’ Strait, you crazy b*******, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.’
The Strait of Hormuz, one of the most important waterways in the world, has been effectively shut off since war broke out in late February.
With its key role in the global trade of oil, its closure has sent oil and gas prices soaring, and has destabilised economies across the world.
Iran’s move to pressure the US has infuriated Trump, who previously said in his address to the American people last week that he planned to hit the nation hard over the next two to three weeks.
Overnight, Trump made good on that promise by carrying out joint attacks with Israel that killed over 25 people in Iran.
Explosions rang out into the night in Tehran and low-flying jets could be heard for hours as the capital was pounded. Thick black smoke rose near the city’s Azadi Square after one airstrike hit the Sharif University of Technology grounds, where Iranian media reported damage to the buildings as well as a natural gas distribution site next to the campus.
It wasn’t immediately clear what had been targeted on the grounds of the university, which is empty of students as the war has forced all schools into the country into online classes.
However, multiple countries over the years have sanctioned the university for its work with the military, particularly on Iran’s ballistic missile program, which is controlled by the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
A strike near Eslamshar, southwest of Tehran, killed at least 13 people, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported. Five others were killed when a residential area in the city of Qom was hit, and six more were killed in strikes on other cities, the state-run IRAN daily newspaper reported.
Three more people were killed when an airstrike hit a home in Tehran, Iranian state television reported.
Following Trump’s expletive-laced posts on Easter Sunday, Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf called the threats of targeting Iran’s infrastructure ‘reckless.’
‘You won’t gain anything through war crimes,’ Qalibaf wrote on X, adding: ‘The only real solution is respecting the rights of the Iranian people and ending this dangerous game.’
Iran has retaliated to the US-Israeli attacks. In Israel’s Petah Tikva, paramedics provided medical treatment to an injured woman in serious condition with a chest injury from shrapnel and evacuated her to the Beilinson Hospital.
Firefighters in that city are handling cars on fire and continue searching to ensure there are no people trapped in the rubble.
In Tel Aviv, a man slightly injured by glass shrapnel was evacuated to the Ichilov Hospital.
Footage provided by rescue service Magen David Adom shows damage to residential buildings due to the attack.
Meanwhile, Israel’s military warned the public on Monday morning of another missile barrage coming from Iran, the fourth-such alert of the day.
Israel’s Magen David Adom and Fire and Rescue services said earlier today that there are several reported sites of Iranian missile hits in the northern city of Haifa.
In one site, four people were slightly injured, including two children.
The missile attacks hit residential areas and a factory in the city. The factory was hit by shrapnel from an interception.
It is unclear if all the reported hits were caused by shrapnel from interception or direct hits.
Video footage provided by Magen David Adom of the affected sites show active fire and bombed cars in what appears to be a residential area.
The missile strikes come a day after another attack from Iran also hit a Haifa residential area, killing two people and injuring others.
Two other people remain missing under the rubble caused by Sunday’s strike and their fate is still unknown.
In the United Arab Emirates’ capital of Abu Dhabi, authorities said a Ghanaian man suffered wounds from shrapnel after the interception of an Iranian missile over the city’s Musaffah neighbourhood.
That’s near Al Dhafra Air Base, which hosts US forces and has been repeatedly targeted by Iran in the war.
More to follow.
