Tehran, 2 April 2026 (dpa/MIA) - UN Secretary General António Guterres on Thursday called for an end to the "spiral of death and destruction" in the Middle East, after Iran and the United States vowed to intensify their attacks.

"We are on the edge of a wider war that would engulf the whole Middle East with dramatic impacts around the globe," Guterres told journalists in New York.

He highlighted in particular the consequences of the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has brought shipping to a near standstill with attacks and threats. "When the Strait of Hormuz is strangled, the world's poorest and most vulnerable cannot breathe," Guterres said.

His comments came after both the US and Iran threatened to increase attacks in the coming days.

In a televised address on Wednesday evening, US President Donald Trump said the US would hit Iran "extremely hard over the next two to three weeks."

"We're going to bring them back to the stone ages [sic] where they belong," he said.

Iranian officials responded on Thursday, promising to continue fighting for as long as the war continues.

Tehran will not accept the "vicious cycle of war, negotiations, ceasefire and then the repetition of the same pattern," Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said, according to the state news agency IRNA.

A spokesman for Iran's armed forces headquarters echoed this stance, telling ISNA that Iran's enemies should "wait for even harsher measures."

He also dismissed Trump's assertion that Iran's capabilities had been depleted, saying US-Israeli attacks had hit only insignificant targets.

"They know nothing about our very extensive and strategic capabilities," he said, adding that strategic military production is taking place in locations about which Iran's adversaries know nothing and "will never be able to reach."

Trump had previously said the US was on track to achieve all its military objectives in the war "very shortly."

"Their navy is gone, their air force is gone. Their missiles are just about used up or beaten," he said. "Taken together, these actions will cripple Iran military [sic], crush their ability to support terrorist proxies, and deny them the ability to build a nuclear bomb."

Iran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is not aimed at developing nuclear weapons.

Iran, Hezbollah fire rockets at Israel

Iranian and allied attacks on Israel did not let up despite the start of celebrations for the Jewish festival of Passover on Wednesday evening.

On Thursday morning, warning sirens sounded repeatedly in northern Israel. Two men were slightly injured by a Hezbollah rocket, the Magen David Adom emergency service said.

Later, Iran's state broadcaster said it had launched another rocket attack on Tel Aviv, while rocket alerts were heard in Jerusalem.

Magen David Adom said no one was injured in the latest attacks.

Media reported that a rocket launched by Hezbollah struck a nursery school in the town of Nahariya in northern Israel, but also did not cause any injuries.

Iran's tallest bridge bombed twice

Iranian media reported on Thursday that a major motorway bridge in the city of Karaj, outside Tehran, had been struck for the second time in a short space of time.

The attack on the B1 bridge - the tallest bridge in Iran and a vital route for commuters travelling from Karaj to Tehran - took place while emergency services were still at the scene, the Fars news agency reported.

When asked, the Israeli military said it was not responsible for the attack.

According to media reports, at least two people were killed in the first attack on the bridge, which was only completed last year.

Iranians outraged by destruction of infrastructure

The destruction of civilian infrastructure in Iran has sparked anger and disbelief among both government supporters and opponents.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Baghaei criticized the bombing of the Pasteur Institute research centre for biology and medicine in Tehran as "heartbreaking, cruel, despicable, and utterly outrageous," in a post on X.

He said the attack was not just another war crime, but "a barbaric assault on basic human core values."

Tehran residents blamed Trump for the widespread destruction. "Not even Netanyahu has insulted us to this extent!" a 40-year-old estate agent, Shahin, said.

A retired couple could no longer hide their anger either. "The Stone Age, Mr President – even after 47 years under this Islamic regime, the Iranians weren't that far behind," said Jamal, who used to work as an agricultural engineer.

"Now [Trump] has over 80 million more enemies in the world," he said, referring to Iran's population.

His wife, Sholeh, was even more scathing. "Stupidity really knows no bounds," she said. "I'm furious and would love to strangle him."