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Auschwitz 80 years since liberation: Ryszard Horowitz's story of survival and making the American Dream
A film shows a large group of children walking out of Auschwitz concentration camp in the company of nuns. Regina Horowitz recognized her own child and begged the camera operator to give her the frames of the film depicting Ryszard.
There are very few survivors left as the world commemorates the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz. The Horowitz family’s tale of survival is one such documentation.
The Kraków orphanage would send her Regina Horowitz to another address, where she miraculously found her five-year-old son, who was just as shocked to see his mom alive. And not just her, but also his sister Niusia and his grandmother . . . all three women saved by German industrialist Oskar Schindler.
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Ryszard Horowitz, Niusia Horowitz-Karakulska and Roman Polanski enjoying a day at Wawel Royal Castle in Kraków, with Roman’s uncle. Photo courtesy Ryszard Horowitz. (Ryszard Horowitz )
Renowned photographer Ryszard Horowitz was born on May 5th, 1939, to a loving family in the historic city of Kraków, the former capital of Poland, but just four months later Nazi Germany invaded Poland, resulting in utter devastation.
Ryszard Horowitz, highlighted, behind the barbed wire of Auschwitz Concentration Camp, Liberation of the camp in 1945. Photo courtesy Ryszard Horowitz. (Ryszard Horowitz )
The war would turn brutal and sinister, especially for Poland’s Jews.
“When the Germans marched into Kraków,” Horowitz told Fox News Digital, “my parents’ first reaction was to run away. They packed their suitcases and left me with my non-Jewish nanny, Antosia. But soon they returned with my sister, because they did not want me to stay behind. So, we were reunited but eventually forced to relocate to the ghetto.”
Dawid and Regina Horowitz, wedding photo. Kraków, 1932. Photo courtesy Ryszard Horowitz. (Ryszard Horowitz )
The Nazis segregated Jews from the rest of the population, forcing them into Krakow’s notorious ghetto. Life was bleak behind the fences, in constant fear of Nazi persecution.
Kraków Ghetto, gate one, 1941. Photo from the collection of The Historical Museum of the City of Kraków, Poland.
Fortunately for Ryszard, there was an older boy there, called Roman Liebling, known later as Roman Polanski, who attended his third birthday party. According to Polanski, although food was scarce, by some miracle Ryszard’s mother, Regina, managed to procure hot chocolate for the kids. Ryszard, however, did not care for hot chocolate and refused to drink it.
Niusia Horowitz, Roman Polanski, Ryszard Horowitz, Roma Ligocka in Kraków, 1946. Photo courtesy Ryszard Horowitz. (Ryszard Horowitz)
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By 1943, the Germans were liquidating Kraków’s ghetto, and the Horowitz family was forced to relocate to a Nazi concentration camp in Plaszow. It was run by a notorious Nazi commander, Austrian officer Amon Göth.
The remnants of a wall from the Jewish ghetto in Krakow, Poland. January 11, 2023. (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)
“It was a terrible camp, because the man in charge was an extremely brutal character. He created a tremendous sense of fear. He was shooting people right and left. He was like a God in terms of his power and made life there totally impossible,” Horowitz recalled.
Göth liked to throw parties in his villa, where two of Ryszard’s musician uncles were forced to play.
Ryszard Horowitz’s uncles had careers as entertainers before World War Two began. Photo courtesy Ryszard Horowitz. (Ryszard Horowitz)
One of the men attending the parties was German industrialist Oskar Schindler. His friendship with Göth enabled him to run a business that would ultimately become a lifeline for many of the camps Jews.
“Oscar Schindler got permission to open a factory producing utensils for the German army, and my family worked there.” Horowitz explained.
Steven Spielberg, Ryszard Horowitz, Ania Bogusz and Bronisława Horowitz-Karakulska. Photo courtesy Ryszard Horowitz. (Ryszard Horowitz)
Steven Spielberg introduced Oskar Schindler to the entire world in his 1993 movie “Schindler’s List,” and Horowitz shared some observations about the famed businessman.
“Everybody will tell you something else about him. How good he was, how bad he was, how handsome he was, how many women he had, but the bottom line is . . . somehow, he felt this urge to save people. Once, he got into trouble when he kissed my sister when she gave him a cake for his birthday,” Horowitz said.
In 1944, the Germans decided it was time to dismantle Plaszow, disguise the traces of their atrocities, and close Schindler’s factory.
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The Jewish Cemetery in Kraków, photocomposition by Ryszard Horowitz. Photo courtesy Ryszard Horowitz. (Ryszard Horowitz)
“Schindler managed to get permission to move a certain number of workers to his factory in Brünnlitz, in Czechoslovakia,” Horowitz said.
Brünnlitz was a German labor camp, and as Spielberg showed in his film, a list was created with names of those who would be relocated there.
“There is no question that there was a list, and my family was on that list. I was not, because I was too small to work, but somehow, I managed to squeeze in. There were two transports, one of men and one of women. I was traveling with my father,” Horowitz explained.
Schindler’s men made it to Brünnlitz alive, but Ryszard’s life was about to unravel.
“We waited for the women to follow us to Brünnlitz. But, for some reason, we do not know why, they were sent to Auschwitz concentration camp instead,” he said.
Schindler hurried to Auschwitz to rescue his women and left Josef Leipold in charge of his factory.
“Leipold was the exact opposite of Schindler.” Horowitz said. “From the beginning, his idea was to finish us off. And he did not want children there. So, he packed us with our fathers and shipped us to Auschwitz.”
Upon arriving at Auschwitz, Ryszard was selected to have concentration camp numbers tattooed on his forearm. Which meant he would stay alive, for a time.
Businessman Oskar Schindler speaks about saving lives during the Holocaust of Germany’s Third Reich in an interview with United Press International. (Bettmann / Contributor/Getty Images)
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Oskar Schindler managed to rescue the women. They were aboard a train that was about to depart for Auschwitz.
Horowitz recalled these heartbreaking moments, “My cousin and I saw the train, and my mother was there, my sister, my grandmother . . . and they saw us. My mother was certain this was the last time she would see me. They went to Brünnlitz, and my father and I remained in Auschwitz.”
In January 1945, with the Red Army approaching, German SS forces marched thousands of prisoners out of Auschwitz to different camps on German territory. Richard’s father, Dawid “Dolek” Horowitz, was forced to leave his son behind.
“I think that one of the reasons I survived was that a man in charge of a warehouse, Roman Gunz, agreed to look after me. Sometimes he would feed me, and when things got difficult, he would hide me in the warehouse or inside the infectious hospital ward,” Horowitz said.
Then one day, the nightmare of Auschwitz came to an end.
“When the Red Army came close to the camp, the Germans were in a panic. They rounded all the kids up and were ready to shoot us, but just then two German officers arrived on motorcycles screaming to drop everything and follow them, so they did,” Horowitz remembered.
A few hours later, Soviet troops entered Auschwitz.
“The Red Army arrived, most of them on horseback,” he said. “They gave us food and sweets. They had cameras with them, and they recorded a lot of footage. The following day, nuns arrived and took us to an orphanage in Kraków. Polanski’s aunt Tosia found me there and took me to her apartment on Dluga Street. And Roman was already there.”
The Horowitz Family survivors, Szachne, Sabina, Niusia, Regina, Ryszard and Dawid. Kraków, Poland. (Ryszard Horowitz)
In March 1945, Brünnlitz was liberated, and the Horowitz women returned to Kraków.
“One day, my mom was out in the market Square, where they were showing a documentary movie about the liberation of Auschwitz, and she recognized me in it,” Horowitz said.
The Horowitz women moved in with Roman Polanski’s family. They were soon joined by Dawid Horowitz.
“We all lived under one roof for two years, until my father got us a nice apartment near Market Square,” Horowitz said.
After the war, Poles found their country in ruins with a hostile communist regime in charge.
“Most of my closest friends and their families were anti-communists. Everybody’s dream was to get out of Poland as fast as possible,” Horowitz explained.
Regina and Dawid Horowitz reunite with Oskar Schindler and Henry Rosner in Vienna. Photo courtesy Ryszard Horowitz. (Ryszard Horowitz)
Dawid Horowitz managed to open a store selling tools and building materials, with Polanski’s aunt Tosia as his business partner. Life went on.
“For me and my friends, life was pretty good at the time, because we were not engaged in politics. We were artists, and we believed that we lived in a totally free society, so we did what we wanted to do, and we had this amazing outlet, a cabaret called “Piwnica pod Barnami” (The Cellar under the Rams). And we had jazz,” Horowitz recalled.
Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond, in Kraków,1958. Photo courtesy Ryszard Horowitz. (Ryszard Horowitz)
In 1958, American jazz pianist Dave Brubeck arrived in Kraków to perform. Ryszard Horowitz was there with his camera and documented it in pictures. Little did he know that photography was his future. And that future was on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
Ryszard Horowitz, aboard the Polish ocean liner “MS Batory,” departing for America in 1959. Photo courtesy Ryszard Horowitz. (Ryszard Horowitz)
“I had this opportunity because my uncles here in New York were ready to offer me room and board. And I also received a scholarship from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn,” Horowitz said.
With his father’s encouragement and some U.S. dollars hidden in the heel of his shoe, Horowitz boarded the Polish ocean liner “MS Batory.”
Life as an immigrant in the Big Apple was a mixed bag. But at the Pratt Institute, Horowitz quickly exhibited a unique talent for photography.
Ryszard Horowitz photo shoot for Tiffany & Co. Photo courtesy Ryszard Horowitz. (Ryszard Horowitz)
“I created their first photography lab at Pratt, and I was asked to design their 75th anniversary yearbook, which I edited, and I pretty much took all the photographs for them. It was the first time in history that the New York Art Directors Club gave an award to a student. So, this became my portfolio,” Horowitz explained.
Photocomposer Ryszard Horowitz: One-Man show in Beijing, China. (Ryszard Horowitz)
Ryszard connected with influential people who helped pave his way to success. Among them were photographer Richard Avedon, graphic artist Saul Steinberg and ballet choreographer Sergei Diaghilev, as well as his idol, disc jockey Willis Conover, who hosted the Jazz Hour on the Voice of America.
Through the lens of his camera, Horowitz saw the world somewhat differently. His photographs looked like computer-generated graphics, except that they predated the digital age. He became known as the pioneer of special effects photography.
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“I found a way of reversing perspective and juxtaposing large objects to make them look small and vice versa,” Horowitz said.
Horowitz was a master of light. He learned to manipulate light to photograph expensive jewelry and new cars.
“My art education in Kraków helped me – my devotion to the great masters of painting,” Horowitz explained.
Ryszard Horowitz receives an honorary doctorate at the University of Warsaw, Poland. Photo courtesy Ryszard Horowitz. (Ryszard Horowitz)
His iconic commercial work captivated audiences in the world of advertising, bringing him fame and prestigious awards. He received honorary doctorates from the University of Warsaw and Wrocław in Poland, and in 2014, his hometown of Kraków made him an honorary citizen.
“Some of my photographs consist of different images taken in different parts of the world, and they are merged into a single unit that’s not jarring but believable. They appear as though they are an instance of a situation that never existed except in my head. That’s why I call myself a ‘photocomposer,” Horowitz explained.
Award-winning digital photo-composition: Allegory (1992) by Ryszard Horowitz. Photo courtesy Ryszard Horowitz. (Ryszard Horowitz)
He achieved success in his personal life as well. Since 1974, he’s been happily married to Anna Bogusz, and they have two grown sons: Daniel and Emil.
Emil, Ania and Daniel Horowitz. Photo courtesy Ryszard Horowitz.
“I met Ania at a party. She was an architecture student from a Polish family living in Caracas, Venezuela. She was only passing through New York on her way to Paris to continue her studies. She never made it to Paris,” Horowitz smiled, recollecting meeting the love of his life.
Ania Bogusz and Ryszard Horowitz, 1974. Photo courtesy Ryszard Horowitz.
So many years after he walked out of Auschwitz alive, Ryszard Horowitz feels blessed to live the American Dream with his family, and doing what he loves most – creating his photo compositions . . . and listening to jazz.
Not even the professionals inside the New York Knicks press conference room could contain themselves as the clock neared 1 a.m. Thursday morning. Some clapped when Knicks head coach Mike Brown hailed reserve guard Jose Alvarado’s performance—8 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists, all in the fourth quarter—during the largest comeback in NBA Finals history, which put the Knicks one win away from their first title since 1973.
“I know a lot of you guys can’t (clap) because you’re in the media, and you have to stay neutral,” Brown said, before doing something he wasn’t supposed to do. “I’m going to f—king clap for Jose,” he said. “Sorry, mom.”
It was that kind of night. None of this—erasing a 29-point deficit, these Knicks being one game away from hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy—was supposed to happen.
A few yards from the pressers, some of the world’s biggest celebrities partied in the bowels of Madison Square Garden, denying gentle requests to climb into the private cars waiting to whisk them away.
Other fans, still in disbelief, had gone from second-guessing why they’d spent thousands of dollars to see their team get blown out in the NBA Finals to wondering how they got away with such a bargain to see Knicks’ history. They belted Knicks in five! down the escalators, slowly leaving the building before massing outside, where scores of police officers sought to maintain order. Or maybe to re-establish it, after what transpired inside MSG during the second half of Game 4.
As the press conferences continued, players consistently reminded writers that there was still one more game to win. But if New York completes its Finals quest, Wednesday’s game will go down in the city’s sports lore.
New York is used to playing the role of top dog. Ensconced in midtown, with their multi-thousand-dollar tickets and A-list supporters, playing in “The World’s Most Famous Arena,” the Knicks are worth $9.85 billion, the third-most valuable team in the NBA. Its billionaire owner James Dolan shared a box with President Donald Trump on Monday night.
In the last few decades, the Knicks have more often represented flash than fight. But this team—assembled via free agency, trades and second-round picks, led by a coach on his fourth stop—has bucked that stereotype. Trailing by 27 at half, they were used to being down and doubted. They chipped away at their deficit, holding the Spurs to 30 second-half points as the gap narrowed and narrowed. Fans in the packed arena, famous or not, remained engaged throughout. Their thunderous yells surely contributed to Spurs star Victor Wembanyama clanking two late free throws with the Knicks down one.
In the waning moments, Jalen Brunson missed a three-pointer to take the lead, but OG Anunoby glided to the hoop in time to get just enough of his hand on the ball to direct it basket-ward.
Brown called Anunoby’s game-winning tip-in with 1.2 seconds left “the most iconic shot in the history of New York basketball.” Images of that two-finger tap feel destined to adorn childhood bedrooms, subway cars and billboards for decades. One is already on a trading card, with a nickname to boot.
“Right hand of God,” Karl-Anthony Towns dubbed the play. A piece of the net will be inserted into one of Topps’ cards. The ball and OG’s jersey will likely be museum pieces, if not auction-house items, one day. Mike Breen’s triple “It’s good!” call on ESPN is certain to play over and over and over again.
OMG!, Thursday morning’s New York Post blared. Meanwhile more than 40 commemorative physical tickets handed out to attendees on Wednesday were bought on eBay by 10 a.m. Thursday. The cheapest ticket for a potential Game 6 on the secondary market now? It’s more than $12,000.
History sells.
The Knicks had already been credited with bringing New Yorkers together. Trump and Mayor Zohran Mamdani cheered for the same side in Game 3. Taylor Swift, sitting in a packed celebrity row, shared the same euphoria being projected on brownstones across NYC’s five boroughs and beamed from its street-corner Wi-Fi terminals. For the time being, the fighting between the Knicks and the city over watch parties has been forgotten.
“If there’s one thing Knicks fans don’t need permission for, it’s showing up for our team wherever we may be,” Mamdani posted on X earlier in the day after a watch party outside the team’s venue was scrapped.
When the final buzzer sounded, and the players, celebrities, crowds and city streets seemingly rose in unison, palms aloft, “You could just feel the abundance of joy,” Towns said.
By 2 a.m., with ears still ringing, fans were finally making their way home. It was pitch black on Gotham’s quieter streets. It felt more like dawn.
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JERUSALEM: The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) convened an emergency summit this week amid growing concern over the global rise in antisemitism following the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre in 2023.
The three-day conference in the Israeli capital comes at a time when social media influencers are consistently pushing antisemitic hate to their millions of followers.
“Attacking the Jews means attacking the very roots of one’s own faith. It means fighting against the people who gave us the Bible. Jesus was Jewish,” ICEJ President Dr. Jürgen Bühler told Fox News Digital.
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Christian leaders attend the ICEJ’s emergency summit on antisemitism on Wednesday, June 10th, 2026 at the Vert hotel in Jerusalem, Israel. (Amelie Botbol for Fox News Digital)
“If you don’t fight antisemitism, you are sawing off the branch you sit on. For the church to survive, we need to connect to our roots, fighting antisemitism needs to be at the forefront of every pastor and every leader around the world,” he added.
One of the central themes of the conference is Replacement Theology, a doctrine that holds the Church has replaced the Jewish people in God’s plan.
“The Bible is full of God’s eternal plan which includes the Jewish people. Paul’s statement in Romans 11 that ‘the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable’ relates to Israel. This is a doctrine that goes contrary to what the New and Old Testament are teaching and that’s why we need to have this conference,” Bühler said.
“One cannot deny the Jewishness of the Bible. The most frequent word in the Bible is the name of God and the second most used name is Israel. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, he died in Jerusalem, resurrected in Jerusalem, rose to heaven from Jerusalem and he is coming back to Jerusalem. If you read the Bible it is so easy to see the connection to Israel,” he added.
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U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee places a note in the Western Wall as Holy Week and Passover come to a close. (@USAmbIsrael/X)
Israel’s newly appointed Special Envoy to the Christian world, George Deek, addressed the meeting on Wednesday, while Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee are scheduled to attend the summit’s closing event on Thursday at the foreign ministry as keynote speakers.
In a recorded message broadcast at the summit, Israeli President Isaac Herzog thanked Christian leaders for mobilizing against antisemitism.
“We are witnessing a very disturbing surge of antisemitism all over the world. This is a major challenge for humanity. This is the age-old, perhaps the oldest plague in humanity, and we have to stand up together — thought leaders and religious leaders — and say, ‘No more,’ and teach people about the sources of this evil and how to counter antisemitism,” Herzog said.
“I believe that countering antisemitism requires a combination of three major elements: law enforcement, adjudication and education,” he said.
Vice President JD Vance, left, and Israeli President Isaac Herzog shake hands during a meeting at the presidential residence, in Jerusalem, on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (Leo Correa/AP)
“You, dear leaders, have a huge capability of fighting back, and I bless you. Truly, I bless you as the president of Israel for coming here and fighting back, for coming here and discussing how to fight back,” Herzog concluded.
Dr. Andrew J. Nolte, who launched Regent University’s Israel Institute in 2024, said students often repeat antisemitic claims, including the accusation that Jews killed Jesus.
“The answer from a Christian theological perspective is that we all killed Jesus, he died for our sins. There is a theological understanding of the guilt we bear for Jesus’s blood,” Nolte told Fox News Digital.
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The Church of the Holy Sepulchre dates back to the fourth century. (Archivio Università di Roma Sapienza)
While Israel has faced recent criticism over treatment of Christians – mostly at the hands of a few extremists – the country is seen as a beacon of freedom of religion in the Middle East.
According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, as of December 2025, Israel’s Christian population stood at approximately 184,200 people, representing 1.9% of the country’s total population. The community grew by 0.7% over the previous year.
Arab Christians account for 78.7% of Israel’s Christian population and comprise 6.8% of the country’s overall Arab population.
Most Arab Christians reside in northern Israel. Among non-Arab Christians, 42% live in the Tel Aviv and Central districts, compared to 33.9% in the Northern and Haifa districts.
Christian pilgrims carrying wooden crosses walk through Jerusalem’s Old City towards the Holy Sepulcre church during the Orthodox Good Friday procession on May 3, 2024. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)
Nolte said that Christians in Israel hold prominent positions, noting that the provost of the University of Haifa is a Maronite Christian and that Christian communities in the country report relatively high income levels. He also said that, in most cases involving civil rights and religious freedom brought by Christians in Israel, the outcomes have been decided in their favor.
“If you are comparing Israel to any Muslim country in the Middle East, the status of Christians is much higher. As a Christian, you are better off here than anywhere else in the region,” he added.
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Israeli Christians in Nazareth hold a Christmas parade on Dec. 24, 2025. (Eitan Elhadez-Barak/TPS-IL)
Christopher Kuehl, founder of Present Witness and co-host of the One New Man podcast, emphasized that biblical illiteracy among younger generations is fueling confusion about Israel.
He opened his remarks at the conference by citing a recent U.S. study on Gen Z’s alignment with biblical teachings and how closely their worldview corresponds with scripture, noting that only about 5% demonstrated strong adherence.
“Israel gets thrown into that ignorance, that biblical ignorance. Social media is what teaches children and Gen Z; they spend eight hours a day on it and go to church once a week for 20 minutes. How does one create a message in 20 minutes that will overcome spending eight hours on social media every day?” Kuehl told Fox News Digital.
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One Israeli pastor says one of the biggest challenges facing Israel’s Christian community is a low birth rate. Jesus King Church in Nazareth, Israel. (Photo: Pastor Saleem Shalash)
Pastor Matthew Earls joined the summit as part of Eagles’ Wings Ministries’ Israel Christian Nexus program, which focuses on young Christian leaders and gives them the opportunity to experience Israel early in their careers and build a well-rounded perspective.
“We want to teach biblical truth so that the church does not look completely different in the next generation,” Earls told Fox News Digital. “The greater mission is one of solidarity with the people of Israel, and of equipping people with talking points in the hope that dialogue can take place and lead to greater understanding, or at least mutual respect for one another’s positions,” he said.
Sacha Roytman, CEO of the Combat Antisemitism Movement, told Fox News Digital that Christians and Jews face many of the same challenges in defending their faith, history, and future, adding that those who reject Jews and Zionism also reject the Christian worldview because the two are aligned.
Orthodox Christians carry wooden crosses along the Via Dolorosa (Way of Suffering) in the Old City of Jerusalem during the Orthodox Good Friday procession before Holy Saturday. (Saeed Qaq/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
“I’m here to share this message with Christian leaders who go back to their communities empowered with more knowledge, more energy, and different tools to fight this battle,” Roytman said.
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As part of its research, CAM has examined how social media algorithms amplify antisemitic content and conspiracy theories. “We discovered that the algorithms are trained to deliver engaging content that upsets people and keeps them hooked. Often, it is anti-establishment content and conspiracy theories that fuel antisemitism,” Roytman said.
More than 200 theologians, pastors and ministry leaders from over 30 countries are attending in person, alongside approximately 3,000 online participants.
United States President Donald Trump has said the US will be hitting Iran “very hard tonight”, adding the military will be “taking Kharg Island” and other Iranian “oil infrastructure points in the not too distant future”.
The threats, made in a Truth Social post on Thursday, come after the US and Iran traded two days of strikes, threatening to derail ongoing negotiations for a lasting ceasefire.
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While the statements indicate US willingness to return to a full-scale war, Trump has repeatedly alternated between bellicose threats and diplomatic overtures in recent weeks.
For example, he pledged that “a whole civilisation will die” just hours before a pause in fighting was agreed to, beginning on April 8.
“The United States will be hitting Iran (Whose Navy, Air Force, Radar, Anti Aircraft, and all other forms of Defense, together with most of its offensive capability, are GONE!), VERY HARD TONIGHT,” Trump wrote on Thursday.
“At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets,” Trump wrote, before referencing the US military action against Venezuela.
That included the abduction of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. Maduro’s replacement, Delcy Rodriguez, has overseen an opening of the country’s state-controlled oil industry to foreign investors, under heavy US pressure.
Kharg Island, known as the “Forbidden Island” due to its strict military control, processes 90 percent of Iran’s crude exports.
In a subsequent interview with Fox News, Trump said taking Kharg Island has always been his “preference”.
“I don’t know that America has the stomach for it, to be honest,” he added, saying he was still averse to deploying boots on the ground in Iran.
Trump’s statements came shortly after Iran’s foreign ministry said the latest round of US strikes rendered the ongoing pause in fighting “practically meaningless”.
Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, described the latest US attacks on Iran as “a widespread and utter nullification of the ceasefire”.
Recent US strikes have targeted the port city of Bandar Abbas, Qeshm Island, and the southern towns of Sirik, Minab and Karaj west of Tehran, according to Iranian media.
Iran, meanwhile, has attacked US bases in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan. Trump has also accused Iran of downing a US helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday.
Following the latest round of US strikes, Iran announced the full closure of the strait, the arterial waterway that has emerged as Tehran’s key point of leverage in the conflict.
US officials have for weeks been signalling that a deal is close, but have offered few specifics on impasses over the future of Iran’s nuclear programme, future control of the Strait of Hormuz, or the release of frozen Iranian funds.
Analysts have said the Trump administration is constrained by the political imperative of reaching a deal with better terms than the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which saw Tehran curtail its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.
Trump unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and has, since taking office last year, twice struck Iran amid ongoing talks on its nuclear programme.
On Thursday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent vowed that any damage Iran “inflicts on our allies in the Gulf will be paid for with funds extracted” from Iran’s frozen assets, which are estimated to total about $100bn globally.
Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett said Trump appears to be using military pressure and inflammatory language to try to push Iran towards a deal.
“So what’s clear is that the US president is continuing with this Truth Social post to mix public threats with what he believes is still possible, and that is diplomacy at the barrel of a gun,” Halkett said.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Abas Aslani, a senior research fellow at the Centre for Middle East Strategic Studies, said the Trump administration “wants to escalate in order to create leverage at the negotiating table to pressure Tehran to make concessions that they did not in the past”.
Tehran, meanwhile, is concerned with “restoring deterrence against additional attacks on the country”.
“And for Iran, this is also important because the previous response to the US attack was not enough to ensure that they will not attack Iran again,” Aslani said. “That is why they might be escalating to de-escalate [the situation].”
On Thursday, US CENTCOM also announced that the military had disabled three oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman amid its ongoing blockade of Iranian ports.
India has called on the US to cease attacks on Thursday, saying three Indian crew members were killed in one US strike on a vessel.
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