An influential Iranian cleric has issued a chilling call for violence against former U.S. President Donald Trump, amid escalating tensions between the two nations. The cleric’s statement comes on the heels of a threat from Iran’s leadership, asserting that the United States will “bitterly regret” its recent actions in the Indian Ocean.

The catalyst for these heightened tensions was the sinking of an Iranian warship by the U.S. Navy on Tuesday night. This incident, which took place in the Indian Ocean, resulted in the tragic loss of at least 87 Iranian sailors. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the attack, describing it as “an atrocity at sea.”

Araghchi took to social media to express his outrage, stating, “Frigate Dena, a guest of India’s navy carrying almost 130 sailors, was struck in international waters without warning.” He further warned, “Mark my words: The US will come to bitterly regret [the] precedent it has set.”

Adding to the escalating rhetoric, Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli, a prominent figure in Iran’s religious hierarchy, delivered a fiery address on state television. He declared that Iran was “on the verge of a great test” and called for “the shedding of Zionist blood, the shedding of Trump’s blood.” This rare appeal for violence from an ayatollah underscores the gravity of the situation and highlights the deep-seated animosity towards the United States.

The Ayatollah’s statement, urging a fight against “oppressive America,” marks a significant and alarming escalation in the tone of Iran’s response. As tensions continue to simmer, the international community watches closely, hoping for a de-escalation in this volatile standoff.

‘Fight the oppressive America, his blood is on my shoulders,’ he said in a rare call for violence from an ayatollah, one of the highest ranks within the clergy of Shiite Islam.

The US and Israel launched the war on Saturday, targeting Iran’s leadership, missile arsenal and nuclear program while suggesting that toppling the government is a goal.

But the exact aims and timelines have repeatedly shifted, signalling an open-ended conflict.

The US navy sank an Iranian warship on Tuesday night in the Indian Ocean, killing at least 87 Iranian sailors

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi decried the attack as ‘an atrocity at sea’

A top Iranian cleric has called for ‘the shedding of [Donald] Trump’s (pictured) blood’

Today, Israel announced multiple incoming missile attacks and air sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Iranian state television said additional strikes also targeted US bases.

The Israeli military said it launched targeted attacks in Lebanon at the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group and a ‘large-scale wave of strikes against infrastructure’ in Iran’s capital, without elaborating.

Explosions were heard in multiple locations in Tehran a short time later.

The war has so far killed more than 1,000 people in Iran, more than 70 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials in those countries.

It has disrupted the supply of the world’s oil and gas, snarled international shipping and stranded hundreds of thousands of travellers in the Middle East.

A drone crashed on Thursday near the airport in Nakhchivan, an Azerbaijan exclave that borders the north of Iran and is separated from the rest of the country by Armenia. Another drone fell near a school and two civilians were injured, Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said.

Iran has not acknowledged targeting Azerbaijan, but its attacks have spread erratically as the war has gone on involving regional countries and beyond.

Qatar evacuated residents near the US embassy in Doha as a temporary precaution and fighter jets could be heard overhead early in the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai.

Tehran has been pummelled by US and Israeli air strikes since Saturday, when they killed Ayatollah Khamenei

Saudi Arabia said it destroyed a drone in its province bordering Jordan, and a new attack off the coast of Kuwait appeared to expand the area where commercial shipping was in danger.

An explosion rocked the area early on Thursday, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre run by the British military. It said a tanker apparently came under attack, but the agency did not offer a cause. Iran has attacked ships by attaching limpet mines to them in the past.

Prior attacks since fighting began on Saturday have happened in the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz, which connects it to the Persian Gulf and through which about a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped.

US stocks rebounded on Wednesday after oil prices stopped spiking and reports gave encouraging updates on the American economy.

But oil prices resumed their ascent early on Thursday and Brent crude, the international standard, was up some 15% from the start of the conflict as Iranian attacks have disrupted traffic through the strait.