Iran launched a new wave of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and Gulf Arab states early Thursday, demonstrating its continued capacity to strike across the region even as U.S. President Donald Trump told Americans the war's core military objectives were "nearing completion" and promised heavy escalation in the weeks ahead.
The attacks came hours after Trump delivered his first prime-time national address on the conflict from the White House on Wednesday evening. Rather than signalling a near end to hostilities, the president vowed to hit Iran "extremely hard over the next two to three weeks," and warned that if Iran did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. would target Iranian power plants — and potentially its oil infrastructure. The speech delivered no clear ceasefire pathway.
Israeli air defence systems intercepted multiple missiles fired toward the country in the early hours of Thursday. Emergency services said at least 14 people were wounded in a strike near Tel Aviv, including an 11-year-old girl. Dozens of rockets were also fired at locations in northern Israel, wounding an 85-year-old man and a 34-year-old man with mild shrapnel injuries, according to Magen David Adom, Israel's emergency service.
In the Gulf, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Defence said its air defences intercepted at least four Iranian drones Thursday morning. Other Gulf states, including Kuwait and the UAE, continued efforts to counter incoming missiles and drones, as Iran maintained pressure on U.S.-allied nations hosting American military forces.
Earlier Wednesday, Trump posted on Truth Social that Iran's "new regime president" had requested a ceasefire — a claim he said he would only consider after Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz. "Until then," he wrote, "we are blasting Iran into oblivion." Iranian authorities flatly rejected the claim. Tehran's foreign ministry called it "false and baseless," and Iran's military dismissed Trump's assessment of its remaining capabilities as "incomplete," vowing "more crushing, broader and more destructive" attacks going forward.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20% of the world's traded oil normally passes, has been effectively closed since the war's opening days. Traffic through the waterway has dropped 94% compared to the same period last year, according to Lloyd's List Intelligence. Britain announced plans to convene a call involving nearly three dozen countries to discuss reopening the strait once hostilities end.
Financial markets reacted sharply to Trump's address. Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, rose more than 6% in early Asian trading Thursday to around $108 per barrel — up roughly 50% from February 28, when U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran began. Asian stock markets declined broadly: South Korea's Kospi fell 4.5%, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 dropped 2.4%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 1.3%. Analysts said markets were rattled by the absence of any structured path toward ending the conflict.
The gap between U.S. and Iranian accounts of the war's trajectory remained stark as of Thursday. While Trump framed the conflict as entering its final phase, Iran's military posture on the ground told a different story — continued missile launches, an unrelenting grip on the Strait, and public statements promising further escalation.
As of April 2, no ceasefire agreement was in place, and no framework for reopening the Strait of Hormuz had been agreed upon. Both sides continued to escalate their rhetoric while military operations across the region persisted.
Muskan Zahra
