Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it shot down an “enemy” F-15 fighter jet that was flying over the country’s southern coast. A video of the alleged attack was released by the Iranian News Agency this Sunday (22).
The action comes after United States President Donald Trump threatened, in a post on the Truth Social network, to destroy Iran’s power plants, starting with the largest, if the country refuses to completely open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours. The deadline ends on Monday (23).
The American president also stated that he had achieved his goals ahead of schedule and noted that “the Iranian leadership is gone”, as well as the navy and air force are “dead”. “They have absolutely no defense and want a deal. I don’t,” he said.
The Strait of Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean and is a crucial route for the global flow of oil. Attacks on commercial ships and threats of further bombings have prevented nearly all tankers from transporting oil, gas and other commodities through the passage, leading to production cuts at some of the world’s biggest oil producers because their crude oil has nowhere to go.
Seyed Ali Mousavi, Iran’s envoy to the International Maritime Organization, said navigation through the strait is possible for “all except enemies” – indicating that Tehran will determine which vessels will be allowed to pass. Iran has already approved the passage of ships through the strait bound for China and other Asian countries.
Recent events have signaled that the war in the Middle East, now in its fourth week, is escalating with no end in sight.
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Sirens sounded across Israel as Iran launched new bombings on Sunday. In the south of the country, residents faced devastation in the cities of Dimona and Arad. In northern Israel, a man was killed in an attack by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu visited Arad and said it was a “miracle” that no one died in the explosion, which seriously damaged several buildings. But he said that if all residents had run to shelters, no one would have been hurt and asked everyone to obey the sirens.
Netanyahu also stated that Israel will “personally” attack all of Iran’s leaders. “We are going after the regime. We are going after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, this gang of criminals,” he said in the city of Arad, in southern Israel, the target on the eve of an Iranian missile attack.
“And we are going to attack them personally, their leaders, their installations, their economic assets”, he declared to the press, among the rubble of the place where one of the missiles fell. (WITH INTERACTIONAL AGENCIES)
