The US military launched a second consecutive day of strikes against Iran, targeting three locations across the country, hours after President Donald Trump announced that an interim agreement to end the war was “over.” The attacks came in retaliation for Iranian actions, including the targeting of three tankers in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday.
Iranian state media reported late on Wednesday that explosions were heard in the port city of Bandar Abbas, in Sirik—another southern coastal city—and in the southwestern Bushehr province, which houses Iran’s nuclear power plant complex.
President Trump confirmed the strikes on Truth Social, stating, “This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!” US Central Command also confirmed the actions, posting on X that its forces “have started conducting additional strikes against Iran to further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.”
The latest US strikes followed a day of renewed Iranian aggression. After attacking US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait on Wednesday, Iran targeted them again on Thursday, with sirens sounding at least twice in Bahrain, home to the USS Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters. Kuwait’s military stated it was actively intercepting incoming drones and missiles, though there was no immediate word of damage.
An unnamed US official told Reuters that the overnight strikes were expected to be more extensive than the initial round of attacks. Iranian state TV also reported further explosions on Abu Musa Island, one of three small islands claimed by the United Arab Emirates that are crucial to Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz. Despite the attacks, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported no damage to the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran.
The escalating conflict had immediate economic repercussions, with US stock markets falling on Wednesday. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, surged by more than 5% to nearly $80 a barrel, reflecting the continuing worldwide economic impact of the war.
Senator Bernie Sanders criticized President Trump’s actions, posting on X that “Restarting his reckless war with Iran won’t make America stronger. It will cost more lives and waste more taxpayer dollars.” Sanders added that “after getting the United States into a war based on lies, Trump has now declared the ceasefire with Iran ‘over’ after less than a month.”
Speaking on the sidelines of a summit, President Trump reiterated that the strikes were continued retaliation for Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. He accused Iran of “behaving very badly” by launching drones and a missile at ships, adding, “Anything that happens is going to happen very fast,” and suggested the US military might “just finish the job.” The first round of US strikes had targeted a variety of military sites and port facilities after Iran’s targeting of several merchant vessels off the coast of Oman.
In response, Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a key negotiator in talks for a permanent end to the war, wrote on X: “The era of bullying and extortion is over. It leads nowhere. We don’t fold.”
During his return trip from the Nato summit, Trump dismissed questions about whether security concerns involving Iran were behind his surprise decision to fly part of the journey on an older Air Force One, rather than the new Qatari-gifted jet he had arrived in. When asked about credible threats against Air Force One by Iran, Trump stated, “I have a threat all the time. I’m number one on their list.”
The fresh wave of strikes occurred as Iranians were preparing for the burial of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in his hometown of Mashhad in northeast Iran. Khamenei was killed on the first day of the US-Israeli strikes that initiated the war, and his multi-day funeral ceremony had drawn millions of mourners across various cities in both Iran and Iraq.
