Overview
- Manouchehr Mottaki, a sitting Iranian MP and former foreign minister, told Iranian state media the country should mount a ground operation to capture a US base and take "hundreds or thousands" of US soldiers hostage as retaliation for recent strikes.
- Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps used its Fars News Agency channel to urge people in Kuwait and Jordan to demand the removal of US forces and to resist American institutions on their soil.
- President Donald Trump told Fox News he would intensify strikes on Iranian infrastructure, warned of hitting power plants and bridges, and cited his February operation named Operation Epic Fury as part of the campaign of pressure.
- There are no independently verified reports of hostage-taking or announced changes in US troop deployments and some severe claims in circulation, including a report of Iran's supreme leader being killed, remain unverified.
- The sharp rhetoric raises the risk of miscalculation in countries hosting US bases, could spur local protests or political pressure in Kuwait and Jordan, and further erodes trust in ongoing diplomatic channels.