Trump threatens to “bomb Iran to hell” unless a peace deal is signed. Tehran announces the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The United States and Iran are striking each other for the second day running, bringing the two sides to the brink of a renewed full-scale war. Amid the new escalation, Tehran has announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, while Donald Trump has threatened Iran with even more powerful strikes if it refuses to sign an agreement with Washington.
A new wave of US strikes
The United States has carried out fresh strikes against Iran. According to US Central Command (CENTCOM), American forces hit military intelligence and surveillance assets, communications systems and air-defense sites across the country “in self-defense.” The agency said the targets struck “posed a threat to US forces and to international commercial shipping,” and that the strikes were a “response to unprovoked and continued Iranian aggression.”
Iranian media reported explosions in six districts of the country. A source for Axios within the US administration specified that all the targets, air-defense systems, radar stations and drone command posts, were located in southern Iran. According to a Wall Street Journal interlocutor, the strikes hit dozens of sites, including in the area of the Strait of Hormuz, though civilian infrastructure was not affected.
Tehran’s response
Iran retaliated with strikes on US bases in the Middle East. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed it had hit 18 American military sites, including US air bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, as well as the base of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. The Iranian side also asserts that, for the second day in a row, it struck the Al-Azraq air base in Jordan.
Bahraini authorities reported that the country’s air defenses had repelled the Iranian strikes. Air defenses were also activated in Kuwait.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz
Following the US strikes, Iran once again announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The country’s Joint Armed Forces Command warned that it would open fire on any vessel attempting to pass through it. Shortly afterward, Iranian media reported that fire had been opened on two American ships.
CENTCOM denied reports both of the strait’s closure and of any American vessels being hit. According to Central Command, despite Tehran’s threats, commercial ships are continuing to transit the Strait of Hormuz.
Amid the escalation, oil prices rose: Brent crude futures for August delivery climbed by $1.48 (1.59%), to $94.58 per barrel.
Trump’s ultimatum
The US leader threatened Iran with new and even more powerful strikes if Tehran does not sign an agreement with Washington. “President Donald Trump said that if they [the Iranians] don’t sign a deal with the US, he’ll bomb them to hell,” Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst reported after speaking with the American president. According to Trump, in the June 10 attack US forces fired 49 Tomahawk missiles at Iran and deployed fighter jets to take out air-defense systems.
This exchange of strikes for a second straight day has brought the two sides closer to a renewed full-scale war, the New York Times notes. The new strikes are the most serious threat yet to the fragile truce that Washington and Tehran reached in early April, Reuters believes. The escalation began after the crash of a US AH-64 Apache military helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz: Washington said the aircraft had been shot down by Iran, but Tehran did not claim responsibility for the crash.
A war with no way out
The US war with Iran is now in its fourth month. Peace talks have reached a dead end, even though Trump has repeatedly claimed a deal was close (at least 37 times, by CNN’s count). Throughout the ceasefire agreement, the two sides have in fact exchanged strikes on more than one occasion.
Ahead of the new bombardment, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sought to frame the operation as a way to force Iran into peace. The strikes, he said, “advance our military interests and will strengthen our diplomatic position.” “Iran has the opportunity to make a very good deal. But they did not want to do it. If we have to negotiate with bombs, we will negotiate with bombs. Tonight we are going to hit them hard, and I hope Iran makes the right decision,” Hegseth said.
On the eve of the new strikes, Trump held a meeting attended by Vice President J. D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. According to Axios sources, the participants discussed, among other things, a large-scale but short operation against Iran, intended to pressure Tehran into shifting its position at the negotiating table. Details of the plan have not been disclosed.
