The U.S. military on Wednesday launched another wave of attacks against Iran and turned away ships evading its blockade as President Trump vowed to batter the Middle East country for days, promising that Tehran’s defeat would come “soon.”
Mr. Trump said crippling attacks could intensify in the coming week and that he might have to wipe out the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps the way he took on the Islamic State in his first term.
“We’ll have Iran defeated soon. They’ll be defeated soon,” Mr. Trump said during a speech at the U.S. War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
U.S. Central Command said it struck new targets in Iran late Wednesday at Mr. Trump’s direction, as part of the administration’s bid to disrupt the regime’s ability to target international vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
American forces also began blocking ships attempting to evade Mr. Trump’s naval blockade of Iranian ports.
U.S. Central Command said that during the first 17 hours of the blockade, it redirected two commercial vessels.
“The U.S. military remains vigilant and prepared to ensure full compliance,” CENTCOM said on social media.
The U.S. imposed an earlier naval blockade on Iran from April 13 to June 18. The military redirected 140 ships and disabled nine more during that time.
Mr. Trump reimposed the blockade on Tuesday amid U.S. frustrations with Iranian negotiators.
The economic pressure is intended to force Tehran to comply with U.S. demands to end the war and constrain the ruling regime’s nuclear ambitions.
Mr. Trump says Tehran remains desperate to strike a deal because it cannot match American might.
“They want to settle so badly. They don’t like what we’re doing,” Mr. Trump said in Pennsylvania. “We’ll find out whether or not we settle with them or if we just finish it off.”
But Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Wednesday that Iran has no immediate desire to hold talks with the U.S., according to the state-affiliated Islamic Republic News Agency.
“For now, we are focused on defense,” he said.
Mr. Trump said the Iranians continue to reach out.
“We received a call just as we were coming here,” Mr. Trump told Fox Business Network. “They want to meet. They always want to meet.”
Both nations say the other side violated the terms of a mid-June memorandum of understanding that was supposed to set the stage for a final peace deal that would prevent Iran from getting a nuke.
“The only way you can negotiate with these people is through strength, and the only strength is military strength,” Mr. Trump told Fox News’ Trey Yingst in a sit-down interview late Tuesday.
Mr. Trump said the U.S. degraded Iran’s military and will continue to strike Iran through next week.
“Next week it gets really bad for them, because next week comes the power plants, next week comes the bridges,” the president said. “We’re gonna knock out all their power plants. We’re gonna knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate.”
Mr. Trump says his ultimate goal is to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
However, the conflict, now in its fifth month, is taking an economic toll. The price of Brent crude oil rose again to over $80 per barrel on Wednesday as turmoil in the Strait of Hormuz threatens supplies.
Wall Street mostly shrugged off renewed violence in the Middle East, with stocks buoyed by strong performance from chipmakers and lighter-than-expected inflation reports this week.
The average U.S. gas price rose Wednesday to $3.89, up 10 cents from a week ago, according to the AAA motor club. That’s 31% higher than at the start of the war on Feb. 28.
Democrats are seizing on high prices before the midterm elections.
“The hole Donald Trump keeps digging himself into in Iran has turned into a chasm,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said Wednesday.
Mr. Schumer said Democrats would continue to find ways to pump the brakes on Mr. Trump’s war powers and ability to fund the war.
“We will not act like a rubber stamp when our servicemen are in harm’s way abroad and Americans are getting crushed financially and at the gas pump here at home,” he said. “No way.”
Overseas, the Iranian military on Wednesday continued its attacks against regional U.S. military targets, with Bahrain and Jordan both reporting new strikes from Iranian drones and missiles.
The Bahrain Defense Force said that its air defense system intercepted a barrage of Iranian drones and missiles on Wednesday. It said the strikes were targeting civilian sites.
Bahrain’s military reported no casualties but warned citizens to avoid approaching debris from intercepted missiles and drones.
Iran’s military also said it targeted U.S. military installations in Jordan.
According to Iranian state-controlled media, Iranian forces launched a wave of “suicide drone strikes” against the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, an installation used by the U.S. for F-18 operations.
Jordan’s military said its air defenses intercepted three ballistic missiles from Iran, resulting in no deaths, injuries or material damage.
U.S. Central Command rejected Iranian claims that U.S. forces struck a wheat storage facility in Hoveyzeh.
“This is FALSE,” CENTCOM said on social media, adding it only targeted military sites. “Meanwhile, Iran has targeted innocent civilians transiting the strait and in neighboring Gulf countries.”
• Kerry Picket contributed to this report.
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