Iran has threatened to strike oil and artificial intelligence facilities across as many as seven countries in the Gulf if the United States and Israel renew their attacks. Mohsen Rezaei stated there can be no arrangement in which Iran’s economic lifelines come under attack while the economic architecture enabling those attacks is considered untouched and immune.
Mehdi Mohammadi claimed that Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu agreed in principle on an attack but could not guarantee a successful outcome. Mohammadi added, "We see the next conflict as an existential threat. The third war in two years means a threat to existence. Our strategy is ‘zero red lines’."
Foreign ministers from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt, and three European countries will convene in Istanbul on Friday. Pete Hegseth met Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Monday to discuss the purpose and timing of a joint US-Israel attack.
Netanyahu told Hegseth he would prefer it if Iran attacked first. Naval services of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed to have simultaneously struck four commercial ships in the strait of Hormuz on Wednesday.
The IRGC also claimed that three additional ships were struck after hitting mines in the same strait. Brent crude oil was trading at $113.4 a barrel.
Donald Trump backed away from striking Iran again seven times over the past four months. Iran offered to end the Hormuz blockade within seven days and begin talks on its nuclear file if the United States lifts sanctions.
