US President Donald Trump on Sunday stepped up his threat to hit Iran's critical infrastructure hard if the country's government doesn’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz by his Monday deadline.
Trump punctuated his threat with profanity in a social media post Sunday, saying that Tuesday will be “Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran.” He also offered details of the rescue of a “seriously wounded and really brave” US service member he identified as a “respected colonel” who was missing since Iran shot down a US F-15E Strike Eagle on Friday.
The US president said the rescue was a rarely attempted type of operation because of the potential dangers. A second crew member was rescued earlier in “broad daylight” after seven hours over Iran.
The war began with joint US-Israel strikes on Feb. 28 and has killed thousands, shaken global markets , cut off key shipping routes and spiked fuel prices . Both sides have threatened and hit civilian targets, bringing warnings of possible war crimes .
Here is the latest: Crude oil prices jump in early trading after Trump threats Crude oil prices jumped sharply in early trading Sunday after US President Donald Trump issued fresh, heightened threats against Iran and its infrastructure.
The price of Brent crude, the international standard, rose more than 2 percent to $111.25. US crude oil prices were up nearly 3 percent to $114.54 a barrel.
The last time front-month prices for US crude oil prices were above $115 a barrel was the summer of 2022, in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and during a period of high inflation across the globe.
Trump on social media vowed to hit Iran’s power plants and bridges and said the country would be “living in Hell” if the Strait of Hormuz, crucial for global trade, isn’t opened by Tuesday.
Official with Lebanese Christian party killed in Israeli strike Pierre Mouawad, an official with the Lebanese Forces party, was killed along with his wife in an Israeli strike Sunday on an apartment building in the village of Ain Saadeh in the mountains east of Beirut, the state-run National News Agency reported.
Another woman was killed and three women were wounded, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
The Israeli military has made no statement about the strike, and its intended target remains unclear.
The Lebanese Forces party is opposed to Hezbollah and has blamed the Shiite militant group for dragging Lebanon into a new war with Israel.
Israeli strikes in Christian-majority areas have led to sectarian tensions, with local residents fearing that Hezbollah members may be hiding among displaced Shiite civilians taking refuge there.
Doctors Without Borders condemns Israeli strike in Beirut neighborhood The international aid group, known by its French acronym MSF, said the strike in Beirut’s Jnah neighborhood on Sunday hit “a densely populated residential area … only meters from Rafik Hariri Public Hospital.” Lebanon’s Health Ministry said the strike, which came without a warning, killed four people and wounded 39.
“We are seeing elderly people and adolescents arriving with critical injuries to the head, chest, and abdomen, including shrapnel wounds,” Luna Hammad, MSF medical coordinator working in the hospital, said in a statement. “When strikes hit crowded residential areas without warning, the consequences are severe, both in human casualties and in hospitals’ capacity to respond.” MSF said that “strikes this close to a hospital spread fear and can stop people from seeking lifesaving care.” The Israeli military has not named the intended target of the strike, which comes five weeks into the renewed Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon.
Iran says US bombarded its own aircraft, personnel Iran’s joint military command spokesperson said Sunday that the US had to bombard its own military aircraft and personnel that were struck and downed by Iranian fighters to “prevent embarrassment for President Trump and the hollow image of its military.” Ebrahim Zolfaghari added that several US military aircraft entered Iranian airspace to carry out a rescue operation for the pilot of a downed US fighter jet, but said Iranian fighters and air defense systems struck the aircraft and forced them to make an emergency landing in an area south of Isfahan.
A regional intelligence official, who was briefed on the covert mission and who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss it, said the US military blew up two transport planes due to a technical malfunction that forced them to bring in additional aircraft to complete the rescue.
Over the weekend, the United States pulled off a daring rescue of two aviators whose fighter jet was shot down by Iran, plucking the pilot from behind enemy lines before setting off a complicated extraction of the second service member who hid deep in the mountains as Tehran called for Iranians to help capture him.
