The Media Line: President Trump Renews Naval Blockade, Threatens Civilian Infrastructure if No Deal Reached  

President Trump Renews Naval Blockade, Threatens Civilian Infrastructure if No Deal Reached  

By The Media Line Staff  

The United States and Iran exchanged strikes across the region for a fourth consecutive night as President Donald Trump renewed a naval blockade of Iranian ports and threatened to target Iran’s power plants and bridges unless Tehran returns to negotiations.  

The US military’s blockade of ships traveling to and from Iranian ports began Tuesday after President Trump announced the move on Truth Social. On Monday, the president said the United States would act as the “guardian” of the Strait of Hormuz.  

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it had resumed attacks on Iran before the blockade was reimposed.  

“At 3 p.m. ET today, US Central Command forces began launching an additional round of strikes against Iran to continue degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM said in a statement posted to X. It said troops were also preparing “to resume the naval blockade against Iranian ports and coastal areas.”  

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) responded with attacks across the region. Geolocated video reviewed by CNN appeared to show an Iranian drone striking an already-burning warehouse in an industrial area near Mina Abdullah in Kuwait.  

The IRGC said early Wednesday local time that it struck a US Army logistics and support center in Mina Abdullah, claiming the building was “set on fire and destroyed.” It was unclear whether the burning building shown in the video had any US connection.   

Late Tuesday local time, the Kuwait Fire Force said it extinguished a blaze “caused by a hostile Iranian aerial aggression,” the official Kuwait News Agency reported, without identifying the fire’s location.  

Iran’s army also claimed it struck US military assets at Al-Azraq Air Base in Jordan. IRNA said Iranian attack drones targeted an area where F-18 fighter jets were stationed, an accommodation building and a large equipment hangar it said belonged to the US Army. F-18 fighter jets are normally deployed aboard aircraft carriers rather than at Middle Eastern bases, and US media could not independently verify the claim.  

Meanwhile, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Tuesday that Tehran has “no obligations” under the 14-point agreement reached with the United States last month.  

“The core of the Islamabad memorandum of understanding concerned ending the war— an immediate and permanent cessation of the war and, in effect, of military operations against the Islamic Republic of Iran—as well as on all other fronts, including Lebanon,” he said.  

President Trump told Fox News the strikes would intensify without renewed negotiations.  

“We’re going to hit them very hard tomorrow night. We’re going to hit them very hard the night after, and then next week it gets really bad for them, because next week comes the power plants. Next week comes the bridges. 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,” President Trump said.