Donald Trump has threatened to inflict further “death, fire, and fury” upon Iran if it does not allow oil shipments from the Persian Gulf to begin flowing again.
In a post on Truth Social Monday night, the U.S. president vowed to all but wipe out the Islamic Republic unless it fully re-opens the Strait of Hormuz, a critical sea lane for oil exports from Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and other Gulf petrostates.
The post marked Tump’s latest and most frenetic attempt to control the spiraling cost of crude oil, which has panicked financial markets and alarmed experts across the world.
The Iranian military has declared the Strait of Hormuz effectively “closed” and threatened to attack any ships that pass through, pushing the price of crude above $110 a barrel for the first time in three and a half years.
“If Iran does anything that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far,” wrote Trump Monday.
“Additionally, we will take out easily destroyable targets that will make it virtually impossible for Iran to ever be built back, as a Nation, again — Death, Fire, and Fury will reign upon them — But I hope, and pray, that it does not happen!
“This is a gift from the United States of America to China, and all of those Nations that heavily use the Hormuz Strait. Hopefully, it is a gesture that will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump said.
Whether his words will change any minds is far from certain as Trump’s undeclared war against Iran ticked over into its 11th day.
An estimated 1,245 Iranian civilians and as many as 3,000 Iranian military personnel have been killed in the fighting so far, according to reports from Iranian human rights groups and the Israeli government.
Seven U.S. service members have also been killed.
Yet Trump’s war goals and exit strategy remain unclear, with the president declaring on Monday that he had “already won in many ways” but had not yet “won enough”.
The administration has dismissed concerns that the U.S. does not have enough stockpiles of advanced munitions to keep up its current pace of strikes.
The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow, winding waterway running between Iran and the Arabian peninsula, which links the oil-exporting ports of the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean and the wider world.
Key U.S. allies such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates depend on the strait to export much or all of their oil, with relatively few overland pipelines that can serve as an alternative.
Now thousands of tanker ships are idle inside the Persian Gulf, unable to escape. While most of the this oil goes to Asia, any disruption in traffic can affect the whole world economy.
Last week Trump pledged to provide U.S. government insurance for oil tankers in the region, but the price of oil has continued to soar. Analysts say that if the strait stays closed for more than a couple of weeks, the consequences would be disastrous — not just for oil shipments, but for global food supplies.
Iran will reportedly begin charging “security duties” to US-aligned commercial ships hoping to pass through the strait. “We hold the screw of the global oil price in our hands,” one Iranian official told CNN.
At a press conference Monday, Trump insisted that Iran would pay an “incalculable” price for any further interference with oil shipments.
“If they do play that game, we’re going to hit them at a level that they have not seen before,” he said.
