After Trump Speech, War Continues With Threats, Warnings, And Strikes

The US and Israeli war with Iran showed no signs of slowing following US President Donald Trump’s TV address to the nation, with a series of reported air strikes, defiant messaging from Tehran, and a US warning in Iraq of an imminent attack in Baghdad by Iranian proxy forces.

Images on social media showed plumes of smoke at the international airport in Mashhad, a city in northeast Iran, on April 2, RFE/RL’s Radio Farda reported.

Amid the ongoing combat, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced it had struck a base in Tehran used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which is designated as a terrorist group by Israel and the United States.

“Additionally, a ballistic missile storage site belonging to the missile unit in the Tabriz area was also struck,” the IDF said in a statement on social media.

Emergency services reported rocket fire from Iran’s Lebanon-based Hezbollah proxy group that caused shrapnel injuries to an 85-year-old Israeli man and a 34-year-old foreign worker.

A spokesman for the Saudi Defense Ministry said four drones and a ballistic missile launched from Iran had been intercepted.

The US government has issued a warning to its citizens in Iraq, saying that “Iraqi terrorist militia groups aligned with Iran may intend to conduct attacks in central Baghdad in the next 24-48 hours.”

In Iran, there was defiant messaging following Trump’s speech, in which he threatened to bomb Iran “back to the stone ages where they belong” and said military operations would continue for another two or three weeks.

Military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari told local media that US and Israeli knowledge of Iran’s nuclear and military installations was “incomplete” and that Iran would deliver “crushing” blows.

Meanwhile the health of Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi has significantly deteriorated in prison, according to her husband, Taghi Rahmani.

Rahmani spoke with RFE/RL’s Radio Farda by telephone on April 1 from Paris, where he is based.

Diplomacy

Amid the ongoing fighting, there are also diplomatic moves.

Britain will host an online meeting of 35 nations to discuss non-military measures to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has almost entirely closed to shipping — causing global economic chaos as flows of oil, gas, and other vital commodities have come to a halt.

France, Germany, Australia, and the Gulf states are expected to attend, but not the United States, which has called on its allies to secure the strait.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “this morning, we had the chance to look at President Trump’s statements” and that Russia backed a purely diplomatic solution to the conflict.

In China, which has close ties to Iran, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning responded to Trump’s speech by calling on all sides to cease military operations, while also criticizing Washington.

“The root cause of obstruction to navigation through the Strait of Hormuz is the illegal military actions by the United States and Israel against Iran. Only through a cease-fire and the achievement of peace and stability in the Gulf region can the security and smooth operation of international shipping lanes be fundamentally safeguarded,” she told a news conference.

China has presented a five-point plan with Pakistan, calling for an immediate cease-fire and talks.

Pakistan has emerged as a potential key mediator for passing messages between the United States and Iran, which have presented wildly different visions for peace.

Tehran is demanding, among other things, reparations and recognition of its control over the Strait of Hormuz. Washington’s plan has not been made public but is believed to include a demand that Iran will agree to not develop nuclear weapons, limits on Iran’s missile capabilities, and an end to Iran’s support for regional proxy forces.

Trump has said Iran is “begging to make a deal” while Iran has denied any talks are taking place.

A former Iranian foreign minister, Kamal Kharrazi, believed to be involved in contact with Pakistani mediators was reported to have been seriously injured in an air strike overnight. Kharrazi was taken to a hospital while his wife died in the attack.

“Reports of diplomatic contacts alongside the targeting of figures such as Kamal Kharrazi, believed to have been linked to potential negotiations, have fueled speculation that cease-fire pathways may be actively disrupted by Israel,” Hamidreza Azizi, a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, wrote on social media.

“This reinforces Iranian narratives that the Israeli side seeks to prolong the war,” he added.

Meanwhile, the prospect of the war continuing for at least a few more weeks saw oil prices again rising and stock markets falling.

Speaking to Reuters news agency, Russel Chesler, head of investments and capital markets at VanEck Australia, summed up the mood.

“The key question in all investors’ minds is ‘When is this going to be over?'” he said.