Iran threatens 'wipe off the face of the earth' as US-Iran strikes escalate

Ebrahim Zolfaghari warns of devastating retaliation while Strait of Hormuz remains 70-75% closed.

Iran threatens 'wipe off the face of the earth' as US-Iran strikes escalate — Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a representative of the Khatam al-Anbiya military command, threatened to 'wipe off the face of the earth' all infrastructure in the region if US attacks on Iran's critical civilian infrastructure continue.[^1] The warning came as Iranian state media reported that American forces struck an airport and two bridges near Bandar Khamir, killing seven civilians according to Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences.[^2] An official source in Iran's Ministry of Health reported at least 38 people killed and over 400 wounded in US strikes in recent days.[^3] Iran has responded with a drone attack on a US military facility in Bahrain, and struck the Al-Dhafra Air Base in the UAE, destroying four hangars used by the US military.[^4] Kuwait activated its air defense to repel an attack.[^4] The Strait of Hormuz is now 70-75% closed, down from 110 commercial ships crossing daily before the war to between 6 and 30 ships.[^5] A chemical tanker was hijacked this morning in the Gulf of Aden, 120 km south of Al-Mukalla port in Yemen.[^6] Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that any Western military force present in Ukraine would become a target for the Russian army.[^7] Meanwhile, Eric Trump met with the Sephardic chief rabbi of Baku, Zamir Isayev, on July 14, with the rabbi stating, 'Azerbaijan is our friend, Israel is our ally.' The widening confrontation raises the question of how long the US can sustain a multi-front engagement without drawing in more regional actors. US strikes Iran as Israel weighs its role in widening conflict — Early this morning, the US attacked strategic bridges in Hormozgan province in southern Iran, aiming to cut off Bandar Abbas port — a major Revolutionary Guards base that projects naval power in the Strait of Hormuz. The strike followed an Iranian Revolutionary Guards attack on the command center of US special forces at the Al-Tanf base in Syria, itself a response to the killing of Iranian soldiers in Iranshahr.[^1] A senior security official told Walla that the Americans have moved up a notch in the intensity and type of att