Trump Launches New Wave Of Attacks On Iran --- U.S. will 'negotiate with bombs' to force a deal that ends the war, Hegseth says

 

The longer U.S. will 'negotiate with bombs', the higher compensation from toll in Hormuz Iran will demand, baking in the high energy prices. 

“The U.S. began a fresh wave of attacks on Iran Wednesday, launching strikes against multiple targets on President Trump's orders, the American military said.

 

The attack came hours after Trump said Iran was "playing us for suckers" because it hadn't accepted U.S. terms for a nuclear deal. The Pentagon cast the attacks as an act of coercive diplomacy that were designed to force Iranian concessions at the negotiating table.

 

"If we need to negotiate with bombs, we'll negotiate with bombs. And we're very good at it. Nobody better in the world," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday afternoon as he visited the Tampa headquarters of the U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East.

 

U.S. forces launched attacks on dozens of targets, including air defenses and radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz, said a senior U.S. official. No infrastructure sites were hit, U.S. officials said. Iranian state media reported explosions in areas along the Strait of Hormuz, including Bandar Abbas, Qeshm Island and Sirik, and said its air defenses were engaging with U.S. jet fighters.

 

Iran said it targeted the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain in a drone attack. Bahrain and Kuwait both urged their citizens to go to a safe location.

 

The U.S. military said the strikes were over around 9 p.m. Eastern time, several hours after they began.

 

The assault is the latest exchange of fire between Tehran and Washington this week. On Tuesday, the U.S. military launched three waves of attacks against Iranian radar sites, air defense and ground control stations, retaliation after an Iranian drone Monday downed a U.S. Apache helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz.

 

Iran's control of the strait has become a major flashpoint in the war, as Tehran has sought to close the waterway to ships since the U.S. and Israel began the war on Feb. 28. Trump has since demanded that Iran reopen the strait as part of any deal with the U.S.

 

On Wednesday, he said the U.S. had been clandestinely guiding some ships through the strait, through which about one-fifth of the world's oil once traveled. After the latest strikes began, the military denied claims by the Iranians that the Strait of Hormuz was closed, insisting commercial ships continued to transit the waterway.

 

Trump, a Republican, is pivoting back toward a war footing after months of failing to reach a diplomatic resolution with Iran, despite repeatedly saying a deal is close. Earlier Wednesday, he railed against Tehran for not agreeing to his terms.

 

"We were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along, they keep playing us for suckers," Trump said. "We want a deal that's meaningful, we want a deal that works."

 

One of the main sticking points has been Iran's nuclear ambitions. Tehran has shown interest in finding a nuclear agreement with Washington, which has demanded Iran give up its enriched uranium, but has shown no signs of imminently signing one.

 

Trump hasn't given up on diplomacy, U.S. officials said, though his patience has worn thin. Even after authorizing the new bombing earlier this week, he told senior aides Tuesday afternoon to deliver a message to Tehran through Qatar, a country that has been involved in mediation efforts: The attacks were in response to the drone nearly killing the Apache crew, not a resumption of all-out war.

 

Trump insists the situation is under control as he tightens the economic vise on Iran through a blockade on the country's ports and updated sanctions. He said Wednesday that the U.S. military over the past month had secretly escorted 200 ships carrying 100 million barrels of oil through the strait, defying Iran's attempt to fully close the waterway.

 

U.S. officials say the president didn't expect the monthslong ceasefire to crumble, let alone see unsuppressed Iranian missile and drone launches, inflation at a three-year high and rising gasoline prices.

 

Michael Singh, who worked in former President George W. Bush's National Security Council, said recent flare-ups in the fighting have threatened the peace talks while reinforcing how neither side wanted to reengage in major hostilities.

 

"Both compromise and escalation are unacceptably costly, so the default is putting off a decision and hoping conditions are better tomorrow," said Singh, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "On one hand that's rational, but over time this is how wars become endless."” [1]

 

1. Trump Launches New Wave Of Attacks On Iran --- U.S. will 'negotiate with bombs' to force a deal that ends the war, Hegseth says. Ward, Alexander; Seligman, Lara; Gordon, Michael R.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 11 June 2026: A1.