{"id":383936,"date":"2026-04-06T00:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T00:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/383936\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T00:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T00:44:08","slug":"trump-threatens-to-escalate-strikes-on-iran-unless-it-opens-strait-of-hormuz-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/383936\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump threatens to escalate strikes on Iran unless it opens Strait of Hormuz \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

US<\/a> president Donald Trump<\/a>, in a message on Truth Social on Sunday, threatened to escalate strikes on Iran<\/a> unless it opens the Strait of Hormuz. \u201cTuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F—–\u2019 Strait, you crazy bastards, or you\u2019ll be living in Hell \u2013 JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.\u201d<\/p>\n

The vulgar message, remarkable even by Trump\u2019s standards, came ahead of the expiration on Monday of a 10-day ultimatum he had set for Iran, threatening to attack the country\u2019s energy infrastructure if they failed to open the strategic waterway to international shipping. <\/p>\n

Trump told Fox News there was a good chance he could strike a deal with the Iranians before Monday\u2019s deadline. He told the Wall Street Journal that Iran would lose \u201cevery power plant\u201d if they didn\u2019t strike a deal by Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Mahdi Tabatabaei, an aide at the Iranian president\u2019s office, said Mr Trump\u2019s \u201cinsults and nonsense\u201d are born of \u201csheer desperation and anger\u201d saying he \u201chas instigated a full-scale war in the region and is still issuing threats\u201d.<\/p>\n

He clarified that the Strait of Hormuz \u201cwill be reopened\u201d when \u201ca portion of transit tolls is used to compensate for all the damage caused\u201d by the war.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0US rescues second crew member from downed fighter jet in IranOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s closure of the strait is having a crippling effect on the global economy and has sent the price of energy soaring, including in the US.<\/p>\n

It remains unclear if ground troops will be used if Washington decides on an escalation and whether a stepped-up bombing campaign would be all out and immediate, or gradual, attacking one energy target at a time, in an effort to force Iran to the negotiating table. <\/p>\n

Trump decided to step up the ante after the successful rescue mission of the second US airman from the F-15E fighter jet that was shot down over southwest Iran on Friday. Confirming the rescue of the injured colonel on Sunday morning, Mr Trump described the mission as \u201cone of the most daring search-and-rescue operations in US history\u201d. He said dozens of aircraft took part in the mission and confirmed there were no American fatalities. <\/p>\n

The US military knew the location of the missing airman at an early stage and US aircraft reportedly fired at Iranian forces trying to reach the area.<\/p>\n

Iranian media reported that five people were killed in strikes during the rescue mission and several American aircraft were destroyed.<\/p>\n

Israel reportedly assisted the rescue mission by providing intelligence and logistical support to the US forces, but no Israeli combat troops participated.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, day 37 of the war, US and Israeli<\/a> jets continued pounding sites across Iran. Kuwaiti oil facilities were targeted by Iranian drone attacks, resulting in fires and significant material losses, along with energy facilities in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Iran fired salvos of missiles at Israel on Sunday, with one projectile hitting an industrial zone.<\/p>\n

Fighting also continued in Lebanon<\/a>. An Israeli air strike on Kfarhata, a village in south Lebanon, killed seven people, including a four-year-old child, Lebanon\u2019s health ministry reported. Another Israeli attack on the Jnah \u2060neighbourhood in Beirut killed four people. <\/p>\n

The Israel Defense Forces<\/a> further expanded its ground offensive against Hizbullah in south Lebanon, deploying a reserve brigade to carry out what were termed \u201ctargeted operations.\u201d <\/p>\n

Eighteen right-wing legislators urged Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu<\/a> to order the full occupation of south Lebanon up to the Litani river and to expel all the Lebanese residents, and not to suffice with a limited buffer zone. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US president Donald Trump, in a message on Truth Social on Sunday, threatened to escalate strikes on Iran…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[10748,969,42,11829,3410,4267,150432,14396,43,40,38,41,39,115],"class_list":{"0":"post-383936","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-binyamin-netanyahu","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-iran","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-israel-defence-forces","14":"tag-israel-iran-conflict","15":"tag-lebanon","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-top-news","18":"tag-top-stories","19":"tag-topnews","20":"tag-topstories","21":"tag-united-states"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}