Iran Vows Revenge for Larijani as Trump Says War May End Soon

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In Iran, a strike hit an area at the Bushehr nuclear power plant, according to Russia’s state atomic firm Rosatom, which operates the facility. No Rosatom employees were injured, and about 480 Russian citizens remain at the plant, Likhachev said, according to Russia’s Tass news agency.

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Iran’s strikes on energy facilities and ports across the Gulf have continued this week. It set a massive natural gas field in the UAE ablaze Monday as it stepped up attacks on key energy sites, the first time the Islamic Republic has damaged an oil or gas upstream facility in the neighboring country during the war.

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Anwar Gargash, a top adviser to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, said Iran miscalculated by firing upon Arab states in the Gulf. The attacks will drive them closer to Israel and the US while demonstrating why the region can’t accept Iranian nuclear and missile programs, Gargash said.

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He signaled the UAE may be willing to help secure the Hormuz strait.

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“This is the responsibility not only of the United States, but of countries in Asia, countries in the region, countries in Europe,” he said.

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The US president scolded North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies for their reluctance to join such an effort. “I’ve long said I wonder whether or not NATO would ever be there for us,” Trump said. “This was a great test because we don’t need them, but they should have been there.”

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Trump also reiterated he started the war — which began with US and Israeli bombings of Iran on Feb. 28 — to disarm a potent nuclear threat. He claimed, without providing evidence, that Iran was just two weeks away from acquiring a weapon that they would have used “very gladly.” Iran has long denied pursuing atomic weapons and nuclear experts mostly disagree it could have built weapons that quickly.

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US gasoline prices have soared in recent weeks, rising to around $3.79 a gallon, according to the American Automobile Association. That’s the highest level since October 2023 and is piling pressure on the administration ahead of the November midterm elections. White House officials are claiming energy prices will drop rapidly once the war ends and are urging Americans to be patient.

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National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC that the US’s expectation is still for a “four-to-six week operation,” while acknowledging that a longer war could “hurt consumers.”

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In the latest sign of growing domestic opposition to the conflict, Joe Kent, a top counterterrorism official, announced he is resigning in protest of the war, arguing that Israel had dragged the US into the conflict.

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Asked about the resignation, Trump countered that Iran indeed had been a threat. He said Kent, a staunch MAGA Republican, was “a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security.” 

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In parallel with the war in Iran, Israel has stepped up an offensive in Lebanon, where it’s fighting the Tehran-backed Hezbollah militant group. Israeli strikes in the country have killed more than 900 people, according to the Lebanese government.

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That brings the war’s death toll to more than 4,000, with most of the fatalities in Iran. Dozens of others were killed in the rest of the Middle East, while the US has lost 13 military personnel.

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—With assistance from Yuliya Fedorinova.

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