CAIRO — President Donald Trump reimposed a naval blockade of all Iranian ports Tuesday and threatened to hit power plants and bridges next week unless Tehran resumes negotiations, in the latest U.S. escalation of the conflict.
The U.S. also began a fresh round of strikes "to continue degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz," the U.S. military said.
Tehran says it again closed the strait after hostilities between Iran and the U.S. reignited last week, fraying an already fragile truce reached in June after several months of fighting that has killed thousands.
"I'll save the energy targets for last, but ultimately we'll hit energy targets," Trump told Fox News in an interview aired Tuesday night on "Special Report with Bret Baier."
"Next week comes the power plants, next week comes the bridges," Trump said, "unless they get to the table and negotiate."
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U.S. negotiators were in touch with their Iranian counterparts to tell them "you better make a deal," he added.
Iran's army said early Wednesday that it launched drone attacks against U.S. positions at Jordan's Azraq base. There was no immediate comment from the Pentagon.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said they targeted weapons and storage facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait. Reuters could not immediately verify the reports.
The flare-up over the past few days has heightened doubts that a memorandum of understanding signed last month would lead to a permanent halt to the war, which has engulfed Iran's neighbors and disrupted global energy supplies.
American projectiles hit a location near Bandar Abbas, an Iranian city on the strait, the governor's office told state media late Tuesday, while Iranian state news agency IRNA said U.S. projectiles hit an area near Sirik in southern Iran.
"If the U.S. thinks that by tightening its measures against us, its military actions and its economic blockade, we will return to negotiations, it is making a mistake," Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told state television.
The United States said late Tuesday that Iran attacked seven commercial ships over the past week, leading to nearly a dozen crew members being killed, missing or injured.
The United Arab Emirates said earlier that one Indian crew member was killed and eight others were wounded when two Emirati oil tankers were struck by Iranian cruise missiles in the Strait of Hormuz.
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