US Strikes Iran; Tehran Warns It Will Respond to Attacks
"The strikes are in response to Iran's unwarranted and continued aggression," the military's Central Command said in a post on X, adding the strikes began after midnight in Tehran.
A new wave of US strikes hit multiple sites in Iran overnight, the American military said, sharpening a crisis that had already been edging back toward open war just hours after President Donald Trump warned of further attacks if no peace dealis secured.
“The strikes are in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression,” the military’s Central Command said in a post on X, adding the strikes began after midnight in Tehran.
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Iran’s top joint military command answered with a warning of its own, saying it would fire on any vessel trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane that has been largely closed for months.
Iranian media reported that two ships were fired upon.
The latest US action marks another turn in an intensifying exchange of strikes that now threatens to reignite the full-scale war paused in early April under a fragile ceasefire.
Iranian news agencies reported explosions in several cities in southern Iran, including Sirik, Kangan, Bandar Abbas and Minab.
“We’re going to be attacking them, attacking them very hard,” Mr Trump told reporters yesterday at the White House.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth later told reporters during a visit to Central Command in Florida that the strikes would “advance our military interests and also enhance our diplomatic position”.
“We will strike them hard tonight and hopefully Iran makes a good decision,” he said.
“If we need to negotiate with bombs, we’ll negotiate with bombs,” he added.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said a deal is close
Washington and Tehran have exchanged fire several times since the tentative ceasefire took hold, even as negotiators have failed to find a way out of the three-month-old war.
President Trump has repeatedly said a deal is close, but there has been no visible breakthrough, even as he has continued to threaten renewed bombing.
The US military targeted air defences and radar sites around the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday after a US attack helicopter was downed near the strategic waterway on Monday.
Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on US bases in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain.
A US official said there was no significant damage.
Iran accused the US of striking reservoirs that supplied drinking water to 10 villages and violating international law.
“This is not collateral damage – it is a calculated war crime and a flagrant violation of human rights,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghei said.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Iran has blocked traffic through the Strait of Hormuz
Mr Trump, who has previously threatened to destroy Iran’s civilian infrastructure, did not say whether the coming strikes would hit power plants and bridges.
Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament’s national security committee, warned in response that the “war won’t be limited to the region”.
Even so, the sharp rhetoric on both sides was matched by signs that diplomacy had not been abandoned.
A delegation from Qatar, which has been mediating between the United States and Iran, landed in Tehran yesterday to hold talks on the latest developments, Iranian media reported.
The war has killed thousands and disrupted roughly one-fifth of the world’s supply of oil and natural gas, driving prices sharply higher.
Iran has blocked traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, while the US has maintained its own blockade on Iranian ports.
Oil prices rose nearly $3 following Mr Trump’s threat of escalation, to $94 (€81) per barrel.
Mr Trump said vessels carrying 100 million barrels of oil have defied Iran to travel through the Strait of Hormuz as part of a secret military mission.
He said oil prices would be much higher without the effort.
Mr Hegseth said ships have been transiting the waterway “in the middle of the night, protected by the United States in a way that Iran can’t stop, they can’t see it”.
Israeli airstrikes kill 13 in south Lebanon
Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed at least 13 people yesterday
Separately, the US military said it disabled an oil tanker transporting Iranian crude in the Gulf of Oman on Tuesday for a second consecutive day.
Fighting has also continued in the parallel war involving Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed at least 13 people yesterday, Lebanese security sources said, while Hezbollah claimed fresh attacks against Israeli forces.
Tehran’s demands include an end to Israel’s attacks in Lebanon, the lifting of sanctions on Iran, the release of billions of dollars in frozen assets and recognition of its control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Mr Trump said Iran must end its restrictions on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
He also said any peace deal must ensure Iran cannot develop a nuclear weapon.
Iran denies any such ambition.
The UN nuclear watchdog’s 35-nation Board of Governors passed a US-backed resolution yesterday telling Iran to declare its remaining enriched uranium stocks and let inspectors verify them.
Iran branded the resolution as “political”.
