Iran fires missiles at Israel and Gulf neighbors as Trump talks of winding down Mideast war

President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool) 2026-04-02T07:44:43Z DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran responded to U.S.

President Donald Trump’s address to Americans on the war with new missile attacks targeting Israel and the Gulf Arab states Thursday, underlining Tehran’s insistence that it rejected Washington’s outreach for a ceasefire while maintaining its grip on the Strait of Hormuz .

Britain planned to hold a call Thursday with nearly three dozen countries about how to reopen the strait, through which 20% of all oil and natural gas traded passes in peacetime.

The 35 countries, including all G7 industrialized democracies except the U.S ., as well as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, signed a declaration last month demanding Iran stop blocking the strait.

The call will discuss “diplomatic and political measures” that could restore shipping once the fighting is over.

Washington has insisted that Iran allow ships to freely transit the strait, but Trump this week has said it is not up to the U.S. to force it, and in his address encouraged countries that receive oil through Hormuz to “build some delayed courage” and go “take it.” In his address, Trump said the U.S. would hit Iran “extremely hard over the next two to three weeks,” while also insisting American “core strategic objectives are nearing completion.” Iran’s military said defiantly on Thursday that its armament facilities are hidden and will never be reached by Israeli or American attacks. “The centers you think you have targeted are insignificant,” said Lt.

Col.

Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesman for the Iranian military’s Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.

Just before Trump began his nearly 20-minute address on Wednesday, explosions were heard in Dubai as air defenses worked to intercept an Iranian missile barrage.

Less than a half hour after the president was done, Israel said its military was working to intercept incoming missiles.

Sirens sounded in Bahrain, home to the U.S.

Navy’s 5th Fleet , immediately after the speech.

Nearly three dozen nations, but not US, to talk about securing Hormuz strait Following a joint statement in March condemning Iranian attacks on unarmed commercial vessels that called upon Iran to “cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the strait,” the 35 signatories were to h

原文链接: AP News