US President Donald Trump has cautioned Tehran that “much more to follow” after American forces destroyed Iran’s largest bridge on Thursday, an action taken just one day after he threatened to bomb the nation “back to the stone ages”.
The newly finished B1 suspension bridge, a 136-metre-high structure valued at $400 million that links Karaj to the capital, Tehran, was split in half by two targeted strikes, reports The Guardian.
According to Iranian state media reports, the attack on this premier infrastructure project resulted in eight deaths and left 95 people wounded. Footage released by the US President on the Truth Social website depicted portions of the bridge collapsing onto the causeway below as black smoke rose from the site.
Trump remarked that the “biggest bridge in Iran” had come “tumbling down” and would never be utilised again, warning of further escalations if a deal to end the five-week-old war is not reached.
The bridge strike occurred amid a broader conflict initiated by the US and Israel on 28 February, the same day that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, and several associates were killed. In a primetime address from the White House on Wednesday, President Trump described the war as a success that is “nearing completion,” though he also issued a new threat to hit all of Iran’s power plants simultaneously to cut off electricity to millions of civilians.
Despite a government-imposed internet blackout in Iran, other confirmed attacks took place this week, including a major strike on a missile base in Isfahan.
Isfahan is also believed to be the site where Iran has stored its 440kg stockpile of 60% enriched uranium. While there has been speculation regarding a US raid to seize the material, Trump stated on Wednesday that he was unconcerned because the stockpile is buried so deeply.
Additional reports from Tehran indicated that the Pasteur medical institute was hit on Thursday, while Israel claimed responsibility for striking a Revolutionary Guard headquarters used to fund regional proxies.
Ebrahim Zolfaqari, a spokesperson for the Iranian military’s Khatam al-Anbiya central headquarters, vowed “more crushing, broader and more destructive” retaliation, asserting that the war would continue until their enemy’s surrender.
The humanitarian cost of the conflict, which has seen more than 15,000 bombing raids, continues to rise. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies estimate that at least 1,900 people have been killed and 20,000 injured in Iran since the start of the war. Following the latest escalation, global oil prices surged by 7 per cent to $108 a barrel, as UN Secretary General António Guterres warned that the world is on the “edge of a wider war”.
