Trump Threatens to Increase Attacks on Iran if Strait of Hormuz is Blocked

U.S. military in the Strait of Hormuz/PHOTO DOCUMENTATION Alex R. Forster/U.S. Navy via Wikimedia Commons

JAKARTA - The United States (US) has threatened to attack Iran "20 times harder" than this time if Tehran blocks oil supplies in the Strait of Hormuz.

"If Iran does anything to stop the oil supply in the Strait of Hormuz, they will be attacked by the United States twenty times harder than they have faced so far," President Donald Trump said via Truth Social, Tuesday, March 10, as reported by ANTARA from Sputnik.

He said the US would also target targets that were easy to destroy so that "it would be impossible for Iran to rebuild its country" because "death, fire, and anger would reign over them".

"But I hope, and pray, that this will not happen!" said Trump.

Trump saw it as a "gift" from the US to China and all countries that depend heavily on the smooth sailing of the Strait of Hormuz.

"I hope this step will get a lot of appreciation," he said.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stressed that Iran did not close the Strait of Hormuz or hinder navigation in the region.

In an interview with PBS, the Iranian Foreign Minister said that the production and delivery of oil slowed down or stopped not because of Iran, but "because of the attacks and aggression by Israel and America against us".

"Thus, the United States and Israel are the parties responsible for making the entire region unsafe, and they are also the ones who make tankers and other ships afraid to sail in the Strait of Hormuz," he said.

"We are not closing the strait. We are not obstructing their navigation in this strait," Araghchi said, stressing.