Iran threatens to expand war in response to “plans to strangle it”

Yesterday (Wednesday), Iran threatened to expand the war and launch “asymmetric operations,” after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that President Donald Trump chose to “strangle” Iran economically instead of war or agreement.

Chief of Staff Ali Abdullah warned that any new miscalculations would be followed by “much more deadly strikes.”

Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, threatened to target “remote American bases” if the attacks were renewed, and refused to let out “even a single atom” of enriched nuclear material.

In the Strait of Hormuz, the Revolutionary Guard announced that two tankers had exploded with naval mines, while the Army Navy reported that a third tanker had caught fire, after targeting 37 ships in October.

In its final statement in Paris, the G7 called on Iran to resume its full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and to stop its “continuous attacks” on ships in Hormuz. She pledged to restrict Tehran's capabilities "economically and politically." The group condemned “in the strongest terms” the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, and called on “all parties, especially Iran,” to stop arming them.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel will gradually dispense with US military aid, after US President Donald Trump announced the end of this aid, worth billions of dollars, by the end of the year.

A statement issued by Netanyahu's office stated that Israel has become economically strong enough to be able to dispense with American military aid.

The statement added that the transition from the stage of receiving American financial support to the stage of partnership with the United States should take place gradually, without specifying a time frame for that.

Trump announced this trend suddenly during an interview with Fox News last week, considering that Israel no longer needs this aid.

Israel currently receives about $8.3 billion annually from the United States, under a 10-year agreement, until the end of September 2028.

Three informed sources told Reuters that Iran attacked ship navigation systems on the Omani island of Didamar in the Strait of Hormuz. The attacks demonstrate Tehran's ability to target infrastructure used to restore oil flows from the Gulf.

The three sources did not provide a damage assessment, and Reuters said it was unable to independently verify whether any navigation systems were destroyed in the attacks announced by Tehran on Tuesday.

Oil exporters are increasingly resorting to alternative solutions to raise flows through Hormuz, including transferring cargoes from one ship to another off the coast of Oman and the UAE.

The US military said that it was helping commercial ships cross the strait, after Iranian attacks disrupted navigation traffic in it since the outbreak of the US-Israeli war on Iran in late February.

Two other sources in the shipping sector and a source in maritime security said that the impact of the attacks on Didamar Island on commercial shipping in the strait would likely be limited. One of them attributed this to the presence of other systems in different locations.

On Tuesday, Iranian official media announced that the Revolutionary Guard carried out strikes that destroyed “enemy navigation systems” on the island.

Reuters verified a video clip showing smoke rising from the island, without it being clear what was burning. An image from the European Copernicus satellite program showed thermal activity.

The attacks come after Gulf oil exports recovered to more than 80 percent of their pre-war levels in September and October. This was helped by the crossing of ships with the help of the American army, and the increase in Saudi exports through the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea. Large tankers, most of them giant crude oil tankers, transport cargo from Gulf ports to ship-to-ship transfer sites near Sohar, Oman, and Fujairah, UAE.