New threats of “unprecedented consequences” by US President Donald Trump if mines are laid in the Strait of Hormuz were the latest act in the Middle East.
“If Iran has placed mines in the Strait of Hormuz – and we have no reports that they have – we want them removed IMMEDIATELY,” Trump said in a post on the Truth Social platform. “If for any reason mines were planted, and they are not immediately removed, the military consequences for Iran will be at an unprecedented level,” he added.
At the same time, Trump says that the US has “completely destroyed 10 inactive minelaying vessels”, adding that “more will follow”.
U.S. forces are degrading the Iranian regime’s ability to project power at sea and harass international shipping. For years, Iranian forces have threatened freedom of navigation in waters essential to American, regional and global security and prosperity.
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM)
“Don’t hit energy facilities”
However, the US has asked Israel to halt strikes against Iran’s energy infrastructure, citing three sources with knowledge of the matter. Washington appears to have sent the message to the senior political level and to IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir.
The Trump administration cited three reasons, including a goal to work with Iran’s oil sector after the war, fear that such strikes would harm the Iranian people and trigger massive retaliatory attacks by Iran against energy infrastructure in Gulf states.
Putin-Pezeshkian phone call
Russian President Vladimir Putin called for a “rapid de-escalation” of the war in the Middle East in a phone call with his Iranian counterpart, Massoud Pezheskian, a day after he called US President Donald Trump on the same issue, the Kremlin said.
“The Russian president reiterated the position of principle, in favor of a rapid de-escalation” and solving the issue by political means, according to the statement. Pezeskian, for his part, thanked Putin “for his support and especially for the humanitarian aid” he provides to Iran.
Mojtaba Khamenei is missing
he has not yet, almost since his appointment, the third supreme leader in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran,
To date, no video of his message to the crowds of supporters who have taken to the streets of Iran to declare their faith has been released, nor has a written statement from him or his office.
One clue to the new leader’s absence may come from state media reports that he too was injured in the so-called “Ramadan War”. Perhaps the reported injuries keep him from appearing on video, though that doesn’t explain the lack of a written statement.
Another factor could be the disappointment that US President Donald Trump expressed over his appointment after his father’s assassination.
Hammering in Tehran and response from the Guards
Entire blocks of flats in a suburb of the Iranian capital have been flattened by heavy shelling. In Isfahan, civilians, entire families seek refuge in tunnels, in the city’s subway to escape the bombings.
The US Department of Defense has announced that it has hit a total of five thousand targets on Iranian soil. The Revolutionary Guards respond by striking the largest refinery in the United Arab Emirates, while sirens sounded in Tel Aviv.
Lebanon: More than 100,000 newly displaced
More than 667,000 people have been displaced by Israeli airstrikes, an increase of 100,000 in 24 hours, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced today.
As the country has been under heavy Israeli bombardment since yesterday, “more than 667,000 people in Lebanon have registered as displaced on the government’s online platform, an increase of 100,000 people in a single day,” Carolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR’s representative in Lebanon, told reporters in Geneva.
“And the number of displaced people continues to rise right now,” he added. Israel has been bombing Lebanon incessantly since Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite movement, dragged the country into the regional war with Iran on March 2 by firing missiles at Israel.
“Around 120,000 displaced people are housed in public accommodation provided by the government, but many more are staying with relatives or friends or are still looking for accommodation, and we see cars lined up on the streets with people sleeping in them, as well as on the pavements,” she added.
“Many are being displaced for the second time since the start of hostilities in 2024, and most have left hastily, with almost nothing, and are seeking refuge in Beirut, Mount Lebanon, the North Lebanon region and parts of the Bekaa,” he explained.
Cyprus is further strengthened
Finally, the defense umbrella in Cyprus is further strengthened as the British HMS Dragon left Portsmouth port for Cyprus, on a mission aimed at strengthening the defense and security of British bases in the country.
British media recorded the entire spectacular departure of the ship.
