Washington, US President Donald Trump threatened to \u201chit and obliterate\u201d Iran\u2019s power plants within 48 hours if it does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, even as he said Washington was close to meeting its military objectives in the conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a series of posts, Trump issued a direct ultimatum over the strategic waterway, saying: \u201cIf Iran doesn\u2019t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS\u2026 the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!\u201d
The warning marks a sharp escalation centred on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global energy route, even as Trump signalled that US military operations could soon wind down.
\u201cWe are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East,\u201d he said.
Trump outlined five key goals of the campaign, including \u201ccompletely degrading Iranian Missile Capability, Launchers, and everything else pertaining to them\u201d and \u201cdestroying Iran\u2019s Defense Industrial Base.\u201d
He said the US had also moved to dismantle Iran\u2019s military strength, including \u201celiminating their Navy and Air Force, including Anti-Aircraft Weaponry.\u201d
Trump emphasised that preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear capability remained central to US strategy.
\u201cNever allowing Iran to get even close to Nuclear Capability, and always being in a position where the USA can quickly and powerfully react,\u201d he said.
He added that Washington was committed to \u201cprotecting, at the highest level, our Middle Eastern Allies, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, and others.\u201d
At the same time, Trump suggested that the responsibility for securing the Strait of Hormuz should fall on other countries.
\u201cThe Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it \u2014 The United States does not!\u201d he said, adding that the US would assist \u201cif asked.\u201d
In another post, Trump claimed sweeping success in the campaign, asserting: \u201cThe United States has blown Iran off of the map\u2026 Their leadership is gone, their navy and air force are dead, they have absolutely no defence, and they want to make a deal. I don\u2019t!\u201d
He also dismissed criticism from sections of the US media, saying he had met his objectives \u201cweeks ahead of schedule.\u201d
The remarks underscore a dual message from Washington \u2014 projecting battlefield success while maintaining pressure on Tehran, particularly over maritime access and nuclear constraints.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington, US President Donald Trump threatened to \u201chit and obliterate\u201d Iran\u2019s power plants within 48 hours if it does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, even as he said Washington […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-display","category-international","has_no_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2001"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2002,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2001\/revisions\/2002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}