Trump Vows US Will Destroy A Bridge Or Power Plant For Each Iranian Attack On Shipping

Update(0940ET): More telegraphing of intent from President Trump in the below Truth Social Post... he said the US military will "bomb and destroy" one bridge or power plant - including in Tehran - each time the Iranian military shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz. This comes a day after he unveiled the US military plans to conduct a large bombing of Iran's Pickaxe Mountain nuclear complex, which is heavily fortified.

But the Iranians have already long demonstrated they won't alter course in the face of such threats, especially bluster from Trump over social media, and so this unlikely to be any kind of fix for Washington, as Tehran has vowed to keep control of Hormuz at all costs. The Pentagon has argued that things like bridges are 'dual use' as the Iranian military uses them to get supplies from one region to another, while international monitors have highlighted the potential for war crimes. The Iranians have in turn widened attacks on Gulf states to include key civic infrastructure, like water desalination plants (in Kuwait) - each time their own infrastructure gets hit.

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Amid continued fighting which has included explosions heard in Tehran overnight and in the south, Iran's leadership has condemned the Trump administration's "obsessive focus on Kolang Kouh where no nuclear activity is taking place is nothing more than a fabricated pretext for aggression, destruction, and sabotage," according to Foreign Minister spokesman Esmail Baghaei in a post on X, referring to Pickaxe Mountain.

He pointed out that all of Iran's nuclear activity has long been fully declared to the IAEA, and so the repeat threats out of Washington to mount a major attack on it is a "flagrant violation" of UN charter and international law. Trump had said the day prior that the US military will be hitting Pickaxe mountain "pretty soon very heavily and there is nothing they can do about it."

Even some supporters have quested why the US Commander-in-Chief would so casually telegraph his intentions, saying the Pentagon loses an operational edge in revealing such plans.

There's been a lot of sudden focus on Pickaxe Mountain, though it had largely been absent from all prior media coverage of the war, due to Israeli intelligence feeding it to US mainstream press. "Israeli intelligence believes Iran moved thousands of uranium-enrichment centrifuges into tunnels deep inside a mountain last fall, Israeli and U.S. officials say, a development that would heighten concerns that Tehran could reconstitute its nuclear program," The Wall Street Journal wrote Tuesday.

"Israel passed along the intelligence findings to the U.S., saying the centrifuges were transferred to the Pickaxe Mountain site last fall after the 12-day war in June when American and Israeli strikes pummeled Iran’s three main nuclear sites," it added.

And now, by all accounts, more aircraft, refueling planes, and heavy military hardware continue to be transferred from Europe and into the Central Command area of responsibility.

The Iranians might view this as more simply extra targets to be taken out, however, as Gulf countries continue to see inbound attacks. Missile alerts have been sounding Wednesday in Saudi Arabia, and again in Bahrain. ISNA reports (via Newsquawk): Drone and missile attacks on Bahrain and Saudi Arabia; US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and US base in Saudi Arabia targeted:

• Bahrain has faced almost daily bombardment recently due to hosting the US Fifth Fleet headquarters.
• Saudi Arabia has been pulled into the firing line after the collapse of a previous multi-year ceasefire with Iranian-backed factions.

Soldiers in Jordan seem to be prime targets of Iranian ballistic missiles, in an extremely dangerous situation, after several American soldiers already died there in the past week:

Footage filmed by a U.S. soldier in Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, in Jordan, during an Iranian Ballistic Missile attack. pic.twitter.com/0OHle3she8

— MenchOsint (@MenchOsint) July 22, 2026

Jordan too continues to see significant inbound projectiles from Iran. Iranian state media has newly announced that F-15 warplanes, drone preparation infrastructure and a helicopter storage facility at Prince Hassan and King Faisal bases were targeted in recent ballistic missile launches.

IRNA news agency claimed that eight new American MQ-9 drones were destroyed and two others "severely damaged" in the attack, and in addition two helicopters were damaged.

The fresh Wednesday morning initial reports of potential further inbound missile on Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have pushed oil prices higher.

Meanwhile Secretary of State Marco says the US is in contact with Saudi officials over the ongoing threat by Yemen's Houthis to attack commercial vessels and disrupt Saudi shipping in the vital Bab al-Mandeb waterway in the Red Sea. This is squeezing global oil further.

"We’ve been engaged with the Saudis a number of times over the last week in regards to that threat. It’s not a new threat, but it’s one that’s manifested itself in the past," he told reporters in his latest remarks.

More evidence of serious damage and destruction at American military outposts in Jordan:

Source sends footage of Tower 22 dorms after getting struck by Iran in Jordan. The sense among servicemembers is that Iran focused previously on destroying infrastructure but is now targeting soldiers.

The base has been evacuated. pic.twitter.com/Jyegdltsgr

— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) July 21, 2026

In words which Tehran officials will surely not find terrifying or overly threatening, Rubio continued: "At the gist of that issue is the fact Iran is in the middle of it. Talking about the troublemaker of the region, it’s Iran."

"It’s just another example: the Houthis, Hezbollah, the militias in Iraq, Hamas – this is what Iran spends its money on, not on its people, on supporting terrorist organizations and destabilizing actors in the region," he added in Washington's characteristic 'axis-speak' of 'rogue actors'.