“ANKARA, Turkey -- President Trump said he believed his ceasefire deal with Iran was over shortly before the U.S. late Wednesday launched more strikes on the country, extending a skirmish that began with Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz and snarled efforts to reopen the strategic waterway.
U.S. Central Command said the Wednesday strikes on Iranian targets were designed to "further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz."
Explosions were reported in Bandar Abbas and Sirik, the same sites the U.S. hit in Tuesday night's round of attacks, according to Iranian media. The attacks were broader in scope than Tuesday's, hitting many of the same targets as well as missile and drone storage areas around the Persian Gulf, a senior U.S. official said.
The U.S. also struck bridges that it said were being used by Iran's military to transport missiles, drones, parts and other materiel, the official said.
On social media, Trump called the strikes retribution for Iranian attacks on commercial ships near the strait this week. Later, on his way back to Washington from a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Ankara, Trump said on Air Force One that Iran called him seeking a deal. "They want to make a deal so badly," he said. Iran has said nothing about new talks.
Iran responded to the strikes by attacking Bahrain and Kuwait, which host U.S. bases. Both countries reported being targeted and asked their citizens to seek safety. Kuwait announced on social media that its air defenses were confronting missile and drone attacks. U.S. Central Command didn't respond to questions about the strikes.
The latest strikes were the starkest sign yet that efforts to clinch a permanent peace agreement are unraveling. In addition to ordering strikes on Tuesday, Trump also revoked a license allowing Iran to sell oil on the open market, eliminating the primary economic benefit for Tehran of an interim peace deal with the U.S.
"We hit them very hard last night, we'll probably hit them hard again tonight," Trump said at the NATO summit before the latest strikes.
During the Wednesday remarks, Trump called Iran's leaders "scum," "liars," and "vicious, violent people," threatened to reimpose a naval blockade on Tehran, and raised the prospect of targeting civilian infrastructure in future military strikes.
After the later exchange of U.S. and Iranian attacks, Iran's parliament speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, responded on social media: "America still hasn't learned that bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost-free." Alluding to Iran's efforts to control shipping traffic, he added: "The Strait of Hormuz will only open with 'Iranian arrangements,' not American threats."
Oil prices rose Wednesday and U.S. stocks finished mostly lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 577 points, or 1.1%. The S&P 500 slipped 0.3%, while the Nasdaq composite turned slightly positive to end the day.
The new fighting was ignited by Iranian attacks on ships, including a liquefied-natural-gas tanker, in recent days.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was with Trump in Ankara, said the Tuesday strikes targeted small attack boats, as well as underground drone and missile storage facilities, coastal defenses, radars and surveillance sites needed to threaten ships in the strait.
Trump was in the Turkish capital for a summit with NATO leaders, where U.S. tensions with Europe over the war with Iran were on full display. Trump has castigated allies for not supporting the U.S. military campaign, which some European countries opposed, and singled out NATO ally Spain, which closed its airspace to U.S. planes involved in the war.
The strikes highlighted one of the main challenges the Trump administration has faced throughout the war: its search for leverage over Iran after the regime weathered a blistering air campaign, dug in and resisted efforts to force concessions on key points.
Little progress has been made in talks since an initial meeting between the two sides in Switzerland.
"Both sides are trying to drive the negotiations in their favor, and the strikes are now part of the negotiation," said Bryan Clark, a former senior Pentagon official and now a senior fellow with the Hudson Institute in Washington.
The U.S. and Israel launched the war against Iran on Feb. 28 with a series of strikes that took out the country's top leadership and hit military sites around the country.
Iran responded with attacks on American bases in Iran’s Arab Gulf neighbors and by shutting the Strait of Hormuz, the passageway for 20% of the world's oil, tactics that roiled global energy markets.
Fearing greater economic damage, Trump signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran in June that called for pausing the war for 60 days and reopening the strait while the countries negotiated issues including potential curbs on the Iranian nuclear program.
Iran has asserted sole control over the waterway, warning ships against using unapproved exit routes and striking several of them since the deal was signed. The strait was open to international shipping without constraints or fees before the war.” [1]
1. President Declares An End to Ceasefire With Iran --- U.S. launches fresh strikes after Trump's threats in latest sign of talks unraveling. Gramer, Robbie; Schwartz, Brian; Seligman, Lara. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 09 July 2026: A1.
Komentarų nėra:
Rašyti komentarą