Live updates: Trump warns U.S. ‘hasn’t even started’ after strike destroys Iran bridge

Trump Iran strike: U.S. destroys key bridge as president warns military action ‘hasn’t even started’

Muhammad Asghar | GlobalBeat

President Donald Trump said American forces “haven’t even started” attacking Iran after U.S. warplanes destroyed a strategic bridge near Bandar Abbas early Tuesday.

The overnight strike hit the concrete span carrying the main coastal highway south from the port city, satellite images confirmed, severing Tehran’s primary supply line to naval bases overlooking the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump returned to the White House briefing room at 3:47 a.m. to deliver a 90-second statement. “If the regime thinks one bridge is the end, they are mistaken,” he said, reading from a single sheet of paper. “This hasn’t even started.”

The attack came less than 48 hours after Iran fired 47 ballistic missiles at two U.S. air bases in Iraq, killing 9 American service members and wounding 37 more, according to Pentagon casualty figures released Monday night.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters the bridge was chosen because Iranian trucks carrying missile launchers used it daily. “We took out a piece of concrete; next time it will be something harder,” Hegseth said during a seven-minute press conference that ended without questions.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry called the strike “a criminal escalation” and pledged “an answer that will make the previous missile salvo look small.” State television showed engineers scrambling to lay a pontoon alongside the shattered pillars while firefighters sprayed water on burning asphalt.

Oil markets reacted instantly. Brent crude surged $5.81 to $94.42 a barrel, the highest since October. Shipping insurers in London declared the Strait of Hormuz “high-risk,” adding a war-risk premium of $400,000 for every supertanker transiting the waterway that carries one-fifth of global supply.

European capitals urged restraint. “Both sides must step back before this becomes a regional war,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told Deutschlandfunk radio. French President Emmanuel Macron convened an emergency defence council at 6 a.m. Paris time, his office announced.

Inside the Pentagon, planners are preparing options ranging from strikes on Iranian missile factories to a naval blockade, two officials familiar with the discussions told GlobalBeat. Trump has not yet authorised further action, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the deliberations are classified.

Republican lawmakers applauded. “Finally a commander-in-chief who punches back,” Senator Tom Cotton wrote on X minutes after the strike. Democrats warned of mission creep. “One bridge tonight, 20,000 troops next month?” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer asked on the Senate floor.

Tehran residents queued at petrol stations before dawn, fearing shortages if ports are targeted. The rial plunged 12% to 695,000 against the dollar on the unofficial market, currency traders said, making imported medicine even more expensive for Iranian hospitals already short of cancer drugs.

Background

Tensions have spiralled since Trump reimposed “maximum pressure” sanctions in February, vowing to cut Iranian oil exports to zero unless Tehran scraps its nuclear programme. Iran responded last month by enriching uranium to 83%, just below weapons grade, according to inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The two countries came close to open war in 2020 after a U.S. drone killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad. Then-President Joe Biden ordered retaliatory strikes on Iranian-linked militias but stopped short of hitting Iranian soil, fearing a wider conflict that could draw in Israel and Gulf states.

What’s Next

Iran’s parliament meets in emergency session Wednesday morning to debate a formal declaration of war. In Washington, Trump has summoned congressional leaders to the White House Situation Room at noon for a classified briefing that Pentagon officials say will include options for strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island oil terminal.