Iran warns of Hormuz ‘red line,’ retaliation to Trump’s strike threats

Iran warned Thursday that it would “crush” key targets in the Middle East if U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to target the country’s infrastructure in the coming days are carried out.

Trump said in a Tuesday evening interview with Fox News that U.S. forces would target key Iranian infrastructure next week if a diplomatic breakthrough is not achieved.

“Next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants,” he said. “Next week comes the bridges. 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.”

In a statement published on Telegram on Thursday morning, a spokesperson for Iran’s top military command said that if Trump’s threats were implemented “everything that is still intact … that is, all the infrastructure in the region – will be crushed under the steel blows of the powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran; so that no trace of them remains and it is as if they never existed in the first place.”

They added that “under no circumstances and in no way will we allow America, as a foreign and extra-regional country, to interfere in the Strait of Hormuz.”

“This is Iran’s invincible red line,” the spokesperson said.

The Strait, a waterway in the Middle East that’s critical to the shipping of oil and other key commodities, has become the focal point of fighting between American and Iranian forces.

Armed conflict has escalated in recent days after the U.S. launched strikes against Iran earlier this week in retaliation for commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz coming under attack.

Tehran, meanwhile, has launched attacks on multiple Gulf countries.

U.S. Central Command carried out a fresh wave of attacks on Iran overnight that concluded at 9 p.m. ET.

“U.S. forces struck Iranian command centers, air defense sites, missile and drone capabilities, and coastal surveillance facilities to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten innocent mariners crewing commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” Centcom said in a statement posted on X.

“CENTCOM used precision munitions to hit targets in multiple locations including Bandar Abbas.”

The spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry also warned of retaliation on Wednesday.

“Our hands are not tied,” he said at an event in Tehran, according to state-affiliated media. “Our fighters will respond with full force and power to US aggressions, and in other clauses of the memorandum, wherever we had reciprocal commitments, we have not implemented them.”

Last week, Trump said the ceasefire agreed between the two sides last month was “over.” On Wednesday, he told Fox Business News that Iranian officials wanted to meet with American delegates for fresh negotiations.