Trump says US to hit Iran ‘extremely hard’ in next 2-3 weeks

 U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday evening that the military will ramp up its operation against Iran in the next two to three weeks, reiterating the need to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Speaking from the White House, Trump said Washington remained in negotiations with Iran, and repeated his threat of attacking Iran’s electricity infrastructure if Tehran did not accept a deal.

“We’re going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks… we’re going to bring them back to the stone ages,” Trump said, adding that the U.S. was close to completing “all of America’s military objectives shortly.”

He emphasized on the need to hamper Iran’s nuclear capabilities, which he said represented a “sinister threat to America.”

Trump claimed that the U.S. had decimated Iran’s navy and missile strike capabilities, and that the U.S. had also spurred regime change in the country.

He claimed that “discussions were ongoing,” but did not specify whether a ceasefire was close.

“If there is no deal we are going to hit each and every one of their electric generating plants very hard and probably simultaneously,” Trump said.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran’s electricity plants, and had set an April 6 deadline for Iran to either accept a deal or face U.S. aggression. It was unclear whether this deadline still stood.

Iran largely denied that any direct talks with Washington had taken place, and rejected Trump’s earlier claims that it had requested a ceasefire, state media reports showed on Wednesday.

Trump reiterated his stance that the U.S. will not take the lead on reopening the Strait of Hormuz after Iran effectively blocked the passage with the onset of U.S. and Israeli hostilities.

He called on the countries that depend on Hormuz to “take care of that passage,” and that they could “do it easily.”

He repeated his suggestion that countries either buy oil from the U.S. or go to Hormuz and “just take it.”

Hormuz is a key shipping channel that supplies about 20% of the world’s oil consumption, with several countries in South and East Asia dependant on the channel.

Trump had said earlier this week that the U.S. would wind down its military operations in Iran in the next two-three weeks. His comments on Wednesday signal that this timeline will first entail a military escalation before any pullback.

The Iran war crossed the one-month mark this week, with hostilities in the Middle East showing few signs of easing late-Wednesday. Iran was seen attacking several targets in Israel and surrounding Gulf countries, while Israeli forces struck targets across Iran.

Shortly after Trump’s speech, U.S. stock index futures reversed course to fall as much as 1%, while Brent oil prices rallied over 5%.