Back in April, Trump threatened to bomb civilian infrastructure in Iran, including bridges and power plants.
UN human rights chief Volker Türk responded at the time: “According to international law, the deliberate attack on civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime.”
The 1949 Geneva Conventions on Humanitarian Conduct in War prohibit attacks on places considered important to the civilian population.
“I save the energy goals for last, but ultimately we will achieve the energy goals,” Trump said in an interview with Bret Baier on Special Report that aired Tuesday night.
He said U.S. negotiators told their Iranian counterparts Tuesday night that they “better make a deal or there will be nothing left.”
The escalation of rhetoric follows Trump said the 20% toll he threatened in the Strait of Hormuz would be replaced by “massive” trade and investment deals with Gulf states.
The announcement came hours before the US military launched a seven-hour wave of attacks against Iran and resumed the blockade of its ports.
US Central Command (Centcom) said there were “dozens” of Iranian military targets near the Strait of Hormuz, with the aim of “further reducing Iran’s ability to threaten commercial vessels and civilian crews.”
Meanwhile, Tehran fired rockets and drones on US targets in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain, Iranian state television IRIB reported.
In the early hours of Wednesday, Kuwait’s military said it was intercepting Iranian attack drones while Bahrain activated air raid sirens.
“Kuwaiti air defense is currently conducting enemy drone strikes following the shameful Iranian aggression,” the Kuwaiti army said. The Bahraini Ministry of Interior urged citizens and residents to remain calm and go to the nearest safe place.
The U.S. also said Iran “deliberately targeted civilians” in the region by attacking seven commercial vessels, resulting in “nearly a dozen civilian crew members being killed, missing or injured,” Centcom’s commander said in a statement late Tuesday.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) said on Monday evening that Iranian cruise missiles had attacked two national tankers. one Indian crew member killed and eight others injuredfour seriously.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) later confirmed the attacks in a statement to Telegram, saying two tankers had ignored warnings, disabled navigation systems and attempted to pass through a mined route.
It was unclear what other attacks the Centcom statement referred to. The IRGC did not immediately comment.
Renewed attacks between the US and Iran have led to a sharp rise in oil prices as tanker traffic through the strait has all but come to a standstill.
It underlines the strategic importance of the waterway – as Iran accuses the US of interfering in the administration of Hormuz – but control over it means Tehran can also threaten the global economy.
On Monday, Trump declared that the United States was now the “guardian” of the Strait of Hormuz and announced that he would impose a 20% fee on all cargo shipped through the waterway to protect the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump upped the ante even further, saying the US would also reimpose its naval blockade on Iran to further strain the country’s struggling economy.
In his last post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “I have decided to replace the United States’ 20 percent reimbursement fee with trade and investment agreements that the various Gulf states will enter into with the United States.”
“These investments will be HUGE, but at the same time extraordinarily good for them and their future.”
The US President did not provide any further information.
He also said that the strait is “open to ALL shipping except Iran” and that “oil is flowing like never before, thanks to the incredible power of the U.S. military.”
Later, after talks with new Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi in Washington, Trump said: “I don’t like the concept of a fee, but at the same time it’s not fair that we protect this strait for the whole world.”
He said he changed his original fee plan after receiving numerous calls from Gulf leaders.
In response to Trump’s announcement, Iran said it would retain control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Trump’s blockade decision “in some ways nullified a previously agreed ceasefire agreement,” AFP news agency reported.
Gharibabadi also told state television, as quoted by Reuters news agency: “If the US thinks that by tightening its measures against us, its military actions and its economic blockade, we will return to negotiations, they are making a mistake.”
In order to put pressure on Tehran, the USA imposed a naval blockade of all Iranian ports for the first time in April. About five weeks later, the U.S. military announced that it had diverted 100 merchant ships and disabled four as part of the blockade.
The U.S. lifted the blockade in June as part of an agreement between the two countries aimed at ending the conflict – a so-called memorandum of understanding – but a dispute over the strait has become a central point of contention.
Meanwhile, shipping data shows traffic through the strait has fallen to its lowest level in two months. The benchmark Brent crude oil price has also risen sharply.
Additional reporting by Ella Kipling
