US President Donald Trump has threatened to strike Iran’s bridges and power plants next week if the country does not return to talks.
The comments, made in a Fox News interview, aired as the two countries exchanged fire for the fourth day in a row.
Trump earlier reversed a threat of a 20% fee on all Strait of Hormuz cargo shipping but resumed blockading Iranian ports.
“Next week it gets really bad for them,” Trump said. “We’re going to knock out all their power plants. We’re going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate.”
Back in April, Trump threatened to bomb civilian infrastructure in Iran, including bridges and power plants.
UN human rights chief Volker Türk responded at the time by saying: “Under international law, deliberately attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime.”
The 1949 Geneva Conventions on humanitarian conduct in war prohibit attacks on sites considered essential for civilians.
“I’ll save the energy targets for last, but ultimately we’ll hit energy targets,” Trump said in an interview on Special Report with Bret Baier that aired on Tuesday night.
He said US negotiators had conveyed to their Iranian counterparts on Tuesday evening that they “better make a deal, or you’re not going to have anything left”.
The escalation in rhetoric comes after Trump said a 20% toll he had threatened to impose in the Strait of Hormuz would be replaced by “massive” trade and investment deals with Gulf states.
The announcement came hours before the US military carried out a seven-hour wave of strikes on Iran and resumed a blockade of its ports.
US Central Command (Centcom) said it hit “dozens” of Iranian military targets near the Strait of Hormuz, with the aim to “further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping and civilian crews”.
At least seven Iranian military personnel were killed in US strikes on a base in the southeastern city of Bampur, Iran’s army said on Wednesday.
