Featured Image Credit: Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images
Topics: US News, Iran, Donald Trump
Greg Harris
Iran’s military has responded after US president Donald Trump used a primetime address to threaten to strike the country and send it ‘back to the Stone Age’.
In a televised speech on Wednesday evening, Trump addressed the conflict, hours after claiming that Iran had requested a ceasefire, an assertion Tehran has denied.
Writing on his social platform Truth Social, Trump said Iran’s ‘new Regime president’, whom he described as ‘much less radicalised and far more intelligent than his predecessors’, had asked the US for a ceasefire.
However, he added: “We will consider when [the] Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages.”
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The US president has said he is in contact with unnamed Iranian officials, though Tehran has denied any negotiations are taking place.
Iran’s foreign ministry later described Trump’s ceasefire claim as ‘false and baseless’ in comments broadcast on state television.
In response to the speech, Iran’s military warned the US and Israel that it would carry out further 'crushing' attacks.
A statement said: “With trust in Almighty God, this war will continue until your humiliation, disgrace, permanent and certain regret, and surrender. Await our more crushing, broader, and more destructive actions.”
Yesterday evening (April 1), Iran also issued an update about the Strait of Hormuz, which has effectively been blocked since the start of the war and has had devastating consequences on the global economy.
Ebrhamin Azizi, the head of Iran's National Security Commission, wrote on X: "Trump has finally achieved his dream of 'regime change' - but in the region's maritime regime!
"The Strait of Hormuz will certainly reopen, but not for you; it will be open for those who comply with the new laws of Iran.
"The 47 years of hospitality are over forever."
Esmail Baghaei, a spokesperson for Iran's foreign ministry, told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika ships that 'do not belong to the aggressor and are not related to them' will be allowed to pass through the strait 'after necessary coordination with our authorities'.
It comes as the UK announced it would host 35 countries - excluding the US - to discuss diplomatic measures to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump said during his address the US did not rely on oil transported through the Strait of Hormuz, adding that other countries should take responsibility for reopening it.
He also reiterated previous positions, including praise for US military personnel and his insistence that Iran must not obtain nuclear weapons.
While declining to set a firm end date for what he called Operation Epic Fury, Trump said its 'core objectives' were 'near completion' and suggested a timeframe of 'two to three weeks', warning that the US would strike Iran 'extremely hard' in that period.
He also defended the decision to go to war, describing Iran as a 'murderous regime' that 'should have been handled long before I arrived in office'.
In his closing remarks, Trump went on to explain that the US ‘holds all the cards’ in the conflict as he insisted he didn’t need to attack the country, but chose to do so for the good of national and global security.
He also insisted that he hadn’t set out with the intention of triggering a regime change in Iran or liberating its people, but it had happened coincidentally after the US killed the country’s leaders in a targeted bomb strike.