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Trump warns of new strikes on Iran as war hits 2-week mark

Patrick Sykes, Golnar Motevalli and Kateryna Kadabashy, Bloomberg News on

Published in News & Features

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Iran with further attacks after the Islamic Republic’s new leader signaled defiance, suggesting there will be no letup in a war that’s upending energy flows and global markets.

“We have unparalleled firepower, unlimited ammunition, and plenty of time,” Trump said on Truth Social. “Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags” on Friday, he said, referring to Iran’s leaders.

Yet pressure is building in the U.S. for Trump to end the fighting given the chaos enveloping the Middle East and the surge in oil prices. They have climbed to around $100 a barrel because of Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway.

Trump’s warning came after Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said the Islamic Republic would seek to ensure the strait remains effectively closed. In his first public comments since succeeding his father, he also said Tehran would look to open other fronts in the war, now in its 14th day, if the U.S. and Israel persist with their attacks.

More than 2,500 people have died in the war, most of them in Iran, and the Hormuz waterway — through which around one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural-gas exports flows — has been bought to a near standstill. The mass cancellation of flights has left thousands of passengers stranded in the Middle East.

American casualties are mounting. A U.S. refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq and four of the six crew members aboard were killed, the American military said, , adding that the loss of the plane wasn’t due to enemy or friendly fire. That bought to 11 the number of U.S. service members to have been killed so far.

“We are really in a moment of flux where we don’t know yet precisely in which direction this is going to go,” Kim Ghattas, an author on the Middle East, told Bloomberg TV on Friday. “This Iranian regime and its axis have definitely been weakened over the last two years, but they’re still able to fight back and impose and inflict tremendous economic damage to the region, to the world economy.”

The dollar, perceived as a haven in times of turmoil, has gained against all the other 16 major currencies since the war began. Most stocks and government bonds have sold off, with emerging markets particularly hard hit.

Pro-government rallies were held across Iran on Friday to mark Quds Day, an annual pro-Palestinian event. An explosion was reported a few blocks away from a march in Tehran. Pictures posted on social media showed Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and several government ministers participating in the proceedings.

Airstrikes on the Islamic Republic and Tehran’s retaliation across the Arab Gulf and against Israel continued overnight.

A French military staffer was killed in an attack in Iraq’s Erbil region, French President Emmanuel Macron said in an X post. Reuters reported at least six French soldiers were wounded in the drone strike.

Turkey’s defense ministry said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization neutralized an Iranian ballistic missile that entered the country’s airspace on Friday, the third such interception since March 4. Ankara has cautioned Iran against targeting its soil and expanding the scope of the conflict.

 

In Oman, two people were killed after drones crashed in the Sohar region, state media said on Friday. Oman’s Port of Sohar has suspended operations.

Dubai, the financial hub of the United Arab Emirates, reported missile threats and Saudi Arabia intercepted more than a dozen drones in its airspace. Kuwait reported on Thursday that several drones were fired at its international airport, resulting in damage. A flight suspension at Bahrain’s international airport remains in place.

Israel’s military said it struck more than 200 targets in central and western Tehran, including ballistic missile launchers, defense systems and weapon-production sites.

There’s little sign that Hormuz will be reopen for normal levels of traffic soon. Strikes on three commercial ships in the Arabian Gulf over the past two days have highlighted the risk of expanding maritime-transport disruptions. Some ports in Oman and on the UAE’s east coast — both outside the narrow waterway — are being used as emergency gateways for goods bound for the region.

The blockage of the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted the flow of millions of barrels of oil a day, causing what the International Energy Agency described as the biggest hit to global supply on record. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have all have had to curb crude output.

On Thursday evening, the U.S. announced a second authorization for buyers to take Russian oil cargoes already at sea to help ease prices.

The U.S. and Israel first launched airstrikes on Iran on Feb. 28, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, after accusing the Islamic Republic of pursuing nuclear weapons — an allegation Tehran has long denied. Iran struck back, firing missiles and drones at Israel and nations across the Gulf, plunging the region into crisis.

Some 1,858 people have died in Iran, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency. Almost 700 people have been killed in Lebanon, where Israel is battling Iran-aligned Hezbollah. A dozen Israeli civilians and two soldiers have been killed, while 2,975 have been injured, according to the health ministry. Several more people in other Arab countries have also died.

U.S. officials told lawmakers the first six days of the war cost more than $11.3 billion, a person familiar with the matter said, the most detailed assessment yet of campaign’s expense. The U.S. Central Command reported about 6,000 targets had been struck since military operations started.

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—With assistance from Dan Williams, Benjamin Harvey, Alisa Odenheimer, Thomas Hall, Joumanna Bercetche and Shruthi Rajendran.


©2026 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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