United States President Donald Trump has threatened more attacks on Iran, warning that Washington could hit Iran “anytime we want”, as the death toll from the latest US strikes climbed to 18, with at least 108 others wounded. Trump’s threat on Wednesday came after the US and Iran exchanged their biggest barrage since July. The US military struck cities and areas along Iran’s southern coast, near the blockaded Strait of Hormuz, including a wedding party in the city of Kuhestak.
Iran retaliated with attacks on US bases across the Middle East, including Bahrain, Iraq and Jordan. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said, “We hit them very hard last night” and that the strikes “took out all of the new equipment that they tried to build along the Strait of Hormuz”. And we’re prepared to do another one.
And anytime we want,” he said. Iranian officials said at least 18 people were killed in the US strikes. The victims included two children, according to Mohammad-Reza Zafarghandi, Iran’s health minister.
One of them was a four-year-old who was killed in the strike on the wedding party in Kuhestak in Sirik county. At least four people were killed in that strike. Esmaeil Baghaei, the spokesman for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, described the Kuhestak attack as a “war crime” and hit back at US claims that it does not target civilians.
The victims are real”, Baghaei wrote on X. Iranian media said the funeral for the four Kuhestak victims will be held on Thursday. The six-month war has led to a spike in oil prices, roiled the global economy and posed increasing political problems for Trump’s Republican Party ahead of November midterm elections in the US.
Only 31 percent of Americans approve of the war, while some 63 percent disapprove, according to a poll by the news agency and the Ipsos polling firm in August. Voters are particularly unhappy about high gas prices. Since the fighting resumed this weekend, the price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, has climbed to about $95, up more than 30 percent from the start of the war.
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