War in the Middle East: Donald Trump threatens to strike Iran "very strong" Thursday evening

New threats. Donald Trump affirmed that he was going to hit Iran “very hard” this Thursday evening, June 11, despite the fragile ceasefire in force since April 8 between the two countries. The US president also said they would soon seize Iranian oil sites, including Kharg Island, its main oil terminal.

“The United States is going to hit Iran (…) VERY HARD this evening,” declared the American president on his Truth Social platform. “In the not too distant future, we will take Kharg Island, as well as other oil infrastructure, and we will take full control of their oil and gas markets,” he added.

Nearly 40 announcements of imminent agreement by Trump

Summons which come even though he had promised on Tuesday an imminent agreement with his rival – for the 38th time since the start of the conflict in the Middle East according to a CNN count. He finally reversed course the next day. “We were really on the verge of reaching an agreement, but they keep leading us on, they don’t care about us,” the American president raged to the press.

The American command for the region (Centcom) also announced Thursday that it had neutralized a new oil tanker off the coast of Oman attempting to bypass its blockade. The engine room caught fire and the crew was evacuated. The United States and Iran had already attacked each other during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.

The conflict resumed on Sunday when Iran launched missiles at Israel in retaliation for strikes on Beirut, for the first time since the start of the fragile truce. Tehran, sponsor of Lebanese Hezbollah, insists that any agreement to end the war in the Middle East includes Lebanon, while Washington would like to treat this issue separately. Israel responded to Iranian missiles, then the two enemies, one after the other, announced that they were suspending hostilities, as demanded by Donald Trump.

“An endless quagmire”

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Tehran’s main negotiator and speaker of the Iranian Parliament, warned on Thursday that the United States was exposing itself to an “endless quagmire” after Donald Trump’s threats to hit the country “very hard”.

“Inappropriate strategies and impulsive decisions will turn everything upside down, destroy energy infrastructure, explode markets and plunge you into an endless quagmire from which you will not be able to escape for years,” he wrote on the social network discover a different Iran”.

This worsening situation in the Gulf is keeping oil prices high. On Thursday, a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, an international benchmark, was trading around 92 dollars, compared to 70 dollars before the war.

The conflict resumed on Sunday when Iran launched missiles at Israel, for the first time since the start of the fragile truce, in retaliation for Israeli strikes on Beirut. Tehran, godfather of Lebanese Hezbollah, insists that any agreement to end the war in the Middle East includes Lebanon, whose fate Washington would like to treat separately. Israel responded to Iranian missiles, before the two enemies announced to suspend hostilities, as demanded by Donald Trump.

Lebanon was drawn into war on March 2, when Hezbollah targeted Israeli territory in support of Iran. Since then, Israel has been shelling the neighboring country, saying it wants to “eliminate” the Shiite movement. Its operations have killed more than 3,600 people, mainly in the south of the country where its army now occupies part of the territory.