DUBAI, Apr 2:
Iran fired more missiles at Israel and Gulf Arab states on Thursday, demonstrating Tehran’s continued ability to strike its neighbours even as US President Donald Trump claimed the threat from the country was nearly eliminated.
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Iran’s attacks on Gulf states along with its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz have disrupted the world’s energy supplies with effects far beyond the Middle East. That has proved to be Iran’s greatest strategic advantage in the war. Britain planned to hold a call with nearly three dozen countries about how to reopen the strait once the fighting is over.
Trump has insisted the strait can be taken by force – but said it is not up to the US to do that. In an address to the American people Wednesday night, he encouraged countries that depend on oil from Hormuz to “build some delayed courage” and go “take it”.
Before the US and Israel started the war on February 28 with strikes on Iran, the waterway was open to traffic and 20 per cent of all traded oil used passed through it.
Iran responded defiantly to Trump’s speech, in which the American president claimed US military action had been so decisive that “one of the most powerful countries” is “really no longer a threat”.
A spokesman for Iran’s military, Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, insisted Thursday that Tehran maintains hidden stockpiles of arms, munitions and production facilities. He said facilities targeted so far by US strikes are “insignificant”.
Just before Trump began his address – in which he said US “core strategic objectives are nearing completion” – explosions were heard in Dubai as air defences worked to intercept an Iranian missile barrage.
Less than a half-hour after the president was done, Israel said its military was also working to intercept incoming missiles. Sirens sounded in Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, immediately after the speech.
Attacks continued across Iran on Thursday, with strikes reported in multiple cities. (AP)
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