A common view of Tehran with smoke seen within the distance after explosions have been reported within the metropolis, on March 2, 2026 in Tehran, Iran.
Contributor | Getty Photographs
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to destroy Iran’s bridges and energy vegetation, saying the “New Regime management is aware of what must be completed, and must be completed, FAST!” in a Fact Social submit.
Trump didn’t elaborate on what wanted to be “completed,” however stated the U.S. “hasn’t even began destroying what’s left in Iran.”
Hours later, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim information company reportedly claimed {that a} U.S. F-35 fighter jet was shot down over central Iran. Photographs of the jet have been posted on Telegram, with one picture that appeared to point out the phrases “U.S. Air Forces in Europe” on what seemed to be the tail part of a airplane.
The U.S. Central Command, which oversees the area, and Iranian authorities didn’t reply to a request for remark on the time of publication.
Trump’s newest risk got here a day after a nationwide deal with through which he stated the U.S. army would hit Iran “extraordinarily exhausting” for the following two or three weeks. He added that the U.S. would “carry them again to the Stone Ages the place they belong.”
Hours after his speech, Iranian International Minister Abbas Araghchi struck a defiant tone on X, saying that “there was no oil or gasoline being pumped within the Center East again then,” referring to Trump’s stone age remarks.
“Are POTUS and People who put him in workplace positive that they wish to flip again the clock?” Araghchi stated.
Iran has successfully shut tanker visitors by the Strait of Hormuz, a significant world oil route, after the U.S. and Israel attacked the nation on Feb. 28.
‘Stone age’ threats
Trump has repeatedly threatened to ship Iran again to the “stone age” because the struggle entered its second month and the U.S. army build-up within the Center East confirmed no indicators of slowing.
Regardless of reviews of overtures from the U.S., together with ceasefires and a 15-point peace plan to finish the struggle, Iran has publicly contradicted a number of reviews about negotiations with the Trump administration on quite a few events.
Tehran had described the 15-point proposal as “extraordinarily maximalist and unreasonable,” based on an Al Jazeera report on March 25, citing a high-ranking diplomatic supply.
Trump stated Wednesday that Iran’s “New Regime President” had requested Washington for a ceasefire, a declare that Tehran has denied. Trump has not specified who the “President” is.
“We are going to contemplate when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Till then, we’re blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they are saying, again to the Stone Ages!!!,” he wrote.
Assaults on energy vegetation might represent a struggle crime and violate worldwide regulation, authorized consultants stated.
In a letter dated Thursday and signed by over 100 regulation consultants, the group stated worldwide regulation prohibits assaults on “objects indispensable to the survival of civilians, and the assaults threatened by Trump, if carried out, might entail struggle crimes.”
Trump had additionally earlier stated that he might goal water desalination vegetation in Iran.
China, Russia and France veto
The Gulf Cooperation Council on Thursday referred to as on the United Nations Safety Council to take “all vital measures to make sure the speedy cessation of Iranian aggressions in opposition to the Council states.”
The six international locations within the Gulf Cooperation Council — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — have come beneath assault from Iranian missiles and drones because the struggle entered its second month.
The Kuwait Petroleum Company stated that its Mina al-Ahmadi refinery was hit by drones early on Friday.
Jassim Albudaiwi, Secretary-Common of the Gulf Cooperation Council, stated that whereas the bloc doesn’t search struggle, Iran had “exceeded all purple traces” and described Tehran’s assaults as “treacherous.”
Bahrain, the present rotating president of the Safety Council, has led an effort to cross a U.N. decision to authorize “all vital means” to guard industrial transport in and across the Strait of Hormuz.
However the proposal reportedly stalled after veto-wielding Safety Council members China, Russia and France objected to the draft decision, which might have licensed army motion in opposition to Iran.
