Rush Hour: Trump says US will hit Iran ‘very hard tonight’, relief for Abhishek Banerjee & more

United States President Donald Trump said that American forces will strike Tehran “very hard tonight”. He also threatened that his country’s military would seize key Iranian oil export terminal of Kharg Island as well as Tehran’s oil and gas infrastructure and markets.

The island is an eight-km stretch of land off the Iranian coast that handles about 90% of the country’s crude exports. Trump’s statements escalates tensions in West Asia and threaten a fragile ceasefire that took effect on April 8.

Trump claimed on social media the action would be “​much like we ​have ⁠with Venezuela”. However, shortly after his post, he said that he was not certain that “America has the stomach” for a larger conflict despite it being his “preference”. Read on.

New Delhi has registered a “strong protest” to the United States’ chargé d’affaires after three Indian seafarers were killed when the US military struck a commercial tanker off the coast of Oman. Randhir Jaiswal, the external affairs ministry spokesperson, added that the American diplomat was also informed of “our deepest concerns on the ongoing incidents of attacks” amid the war in West Asia.

The Indians who were killed on the Palau-flagged M/T Settebello were identified as chief engineer Patnala Suresh, deck cadet Aditya Sharma and engine fitter...

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