Iran fires on Israel and Gulf neighbors as Trump claims threat from Tehran nearly eliminated

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran fired more missiles at Israel and Gulf Arab states Thursday, demonstrating Tehran's continued ability to strike its neighbors even as U.S. President Donald Trump claimed the threat from the country was nearly eliminated. Iran's attacks on Gulf states along with its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz have disrupted the world's energy supplies with effects far beyond the Middle East. That has proved to be Iran's greatest strategic advantage in the war. Britain held a call with nearly three dozen countries about how to reopen the strait once the fighting is over. Trump has insisted the strait can be taken by force — but said it is not up to the U.S. to do that. In an address to the American people Wednesday night, he encouraged countries that depend on oil from Hormuz to "build some delayed courage" and go "take it." Before the U.S. and Israel started the war on Feb. 28 with strikes on Iran, the waterway was open to traffic and 20% of all traded oil passed through it. Iran continues to strike Israel and Gulf countries Iran responded defiantly to Trump's speech, in which the American president claimed U.S. military action had been so decisive that "one of the most powerful countries" is "really no longer a threat." A spokesman for Iran's military, Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, insisted Thursday that Tehran maintains hidden stockpiles of arms, munitions and production facilities. He said facilities targeted so far by U.S. strikes are "insignificant." Just before Trump began his address — in which he said U.S. "core strategic objectives are nearing completion" — 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 also working to intercept incoming missiles. Sirens sounded in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, immediately after the speech. Attacks continued across Iran on Thursday, with strikes reported in multiple cities. Trump posted footage on social media showing what he said was the collapse of Iran's biggest bridge and threatening, "Much more to follow." Earlier Thursday, Iran state media reported that the B1 bridge that's under construction was attacked. Two semiofficial news agencies reported that two people were killed. It was not immediately clear if the footage Trump shared was the B1 bridge, reportedly the tallest in the Middle East. Even amid the conflict, families went to a park in Tehran to play games and grill food to mark the last day of Iranian New Year, or Nowruz. In Lebanon — where Israel has launched a ground invasion against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants — Israeli strikes have killed 27 people in the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry said. More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran during the war, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel. More than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, while 13 U.S. service members have been killed. More than 1,300 people have been killed and more than 1 million displaced in Lebanon. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there. Nearly three dozen nations talk about securing the Strait of Hormuz Iranian attacks on about two dozen commercial ships, and the threat of more, have halted nearly all traffic in the waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean. Since March 1, traffic through the strait has dropped 94% over the same period last year, according to the Lloyds List Intelligence shipping data firm. Two ships are confirmed to have paid a fee, the firm said, while others were allowed through based on agreements with their home governments. Saudi Arabia piped about 1 billion barrels of oil away from the Strait of Hormuz in March, according to maritime data firm Kpler, while Iraq said Thursday that it had started to truck oil across Syria to avoid the strait. The 35 countries that spoke Thursday, 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. Thursday's talks were focused on political and diplomatic measures, but British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said military planners from an unspecified number of countries will also plot ways to ensure security once fighting ends, including potential mine-clearing work and "reassurance" for commercial shipping. No country appears willing to try to open the strait by force while the war is raging. French President Emmanuel Macron, while on a visit to South Korea, called a military operation to secure the waterway "unrealistic." But there is a concern that Iran might limit traffic through the waterway even after U.S. and Israeli attacks cease. Oil prices rise again even as Trump suggests the war could end soon The conflict is driving up prices for oil and natural gas, roiling stock markets, pushing up the cost of gasoline and threatening to make a range of goods, including food, more expensive. On Thursday, Brent crude, the international standard, rose again and was around $108, up about 50% from Feb. 28. Though the oil and gas that typically transits the strait is primarily sold to Asian nations, Japan and South Korea were the only two countries from the region joining Thursday's call about the strait. The supply of jet fuel has also been interrupted, with consequences for travel worldwide. Rising reported from Bangkok and Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands. Associated Press writers Will Weissert in Washington and David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, contributed to this story.