Dubai, Apr 03: There was little sign Friday of the war in the Middle East winding down as Israel said it faced incoming fire from Iran, Kuwait and Bahrain reported being under attack, and Iran said eight people were killed while celebrating the close of Persian new year near a major bridge hit by a US strike.
Tehran continued to demonstrate its ability to strike its neighbours even as US President Donald Trump claimed the threat from the country was nearly eliminated and cheered the collapse of the bridge on Thursday, reportedly the tallest in the Middle East.
Iran decried the strike on the bridge, which also injured 95 people celebrating Nature Day, when Iranians gather for picnics and other celebrations outdoors on the last day of Nowruz, the Persian new year.
“Striking civilian infrastructure only conveys the defeat and moral collapse of an enemy in disarray,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote Thursday in a post on X.
Iran’s attacks on Gulf states along with its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz have disrupted the world’s energy supplies with effects far beyond the Middle East. That has proved to be Iran’s greatest strategic advantage in the war. Britain held a call with nearly three dozen countries about how to reopen the strait once the fighting is over.
Trump has insisted the strait can be taken by force — but said it is not up to the US to do that. In an address to the American people Wednesday night, he encouraged countries that depend on oil from Hormuz to “build some delayed courage” and go “take it.”
Meanwhile, USS Gerald R Ford has left Croatia. The largest American aircraft carrier in service sailed out of Split and “remains poised for full mission tasking in support of national objectives in any area of operation,” the Navy’s 6th Fleet announced Thursday.
It was unclear where it was going. It went to Croatia after a stop in Souda Bay, Greece, for repairs after a fire in its laundry room. It underwent further repairs in Croatia and saw its sailors take liberty while at port.
The Ford left Norfolk, Virginia, on June 24, 2025, making its deployment one of the longest in Navy history.
If it heads to the Middle East, it would have to pass through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. Yemen’s Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, have entered the war and begun firing on Israel, meaning the Ford could face fire from them.
The USS Abraham Lincoln remains in the Arabian Sea. The US military’s Central Command said Friday that it “continues to conduct flight operations, both day and night.”
The USS George H W Bush aircraft carrier departed Norfolk on Wednesday to head to the Middle East.
Iran continues to strike Israel, Gulf countries
Iran responded defiantly to Trump’s speech, in which the American president claimed US military action had been so decisive that “one of the most powerful countries” is “really no longer a threat.”
A spokesman for Iran’s military, Lt Col Ebrahim Zolfaghari, insisted Thursday that Tehran maintains hidden stockpiles of arms, munitions and production facilities. He said facilities targeted so far by US strikes are “insignificant.”
Trump, in his address, said US “core strategic objectives are nearing completion.”
Iran state media reported the attack on the B1 bridge, which was still under construction, citing authorities in Alborz province.
Trump posted footage on social media showing what he said was the collapse of Iran’s biggest bridge and threatening, “Much more to follow.” It was not immediately clear if the footage Trump shared was the B1 bridge.
In Lebanon — where Israel has launched a ground invasion against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants — Israeli strikes killed 27 people over 24 hours, the Health Ministry said.
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran during the war, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel. More than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, while 13 US service members have been killed.
More than 1,300 people have been killed and more than one million displaced in Lebanon. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there.
Nearly three dozen nations talk about securing Strait of Hormuz
Iranian attacks on about two dozen commercial ships, and the threat of more, have halted nearly all traffic in the waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean.
Since March 1, traffic through the strait has dropped 94 per cent over the same period last year, according to the Lloyds List Intelligence shipping data firm. Two ships are confirmed to have paid a fee, the firm said, while others were allowed through based on agreements with their home governments.
Saudi Arabia piped about 1 billion barrels of oil away from the Strait of Hormuz in March, according to maritime data firm Kpler, while Iraq said Thursday that it had started to truck oil across Syria to avoid the strait.
The 35 countries that spoke Thursday, including all G7 industrialised democracies except the US, as well as the UAE and Bahrain, signed a declaration last month demanding Iran stop blocking the strait.
Thursday’s talks were focused on political and diplomatic measures, but British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said military planners from an unspecified number of countries will also plot ways to ensure security once fighting ends, including potential mine-clearing work and “reassurance” for commercial shipping.
No country appears willing to try to open the strait by force while the war is raging. French President Emmanuel Macron, while on a visit to South Korea, called a military operation to secure the waterway “unrealistic.”
But there is a concern that Iran might limit traffic through the waterway even after US and Israeli attacks cease.
Oil prices rise again even as Trump suggests war could end soon
The conflict is driving up prices for oil and natural gas, roiling stock markets, pushing up the cost of gasoline and threatening to make a range of goods, including food, more expensive.
Oil prices remained elevated, however, at USD 111.54 for a barrel of US crude, having soared following Trump’s address. That’s up about 50 per cent from February 28.
Though the oil and gas that typically transits the strait is primarily sold to Asian nations, Japan and South Korea were the only two countries from the region joining Thursday’s call about the strait. The supply of jet fuel has also been interrupted, with consequences for travel worldwide.
