US launches new Iran strikes as Trump threatens wider attacks
The United States launched a new wave of strikes against Iran on Wednesday to curb its ability to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, as President Donald Trump warned he could widen attacks unless the Islamic republic returned to talks.
US Central Command said the strikes began at 1900 GMT and targeted Iranian military capabilities used to threaten vessels freely transiting the vital waterway.
The US military also said one of its aircraft fired on and disabled an empty oil tanker that was trying to break the naval blockade of Iran's ports.
Central Command said the Curacao-flagged M/T Belma was stopped after the aircraft fired Hellfire missiles into the ship's smokestack. "The ship is no longer transiting to Iran," it said on X.
Iranian state media reported explosions in several cities, including Bandar Abbas, Rask and Chabahar. Earlier reports also cited blasts around southern sites including Qeshm and Bandar Imam Khomeini, while state media later said fresh US strikes hit Bushehr, home to Iran's only civilian nuclear plant.
Nearly a month after Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the Middle East war, the two foes have resumed fighting across the region.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they targeted the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, where attacks against civilian targets were intercepted, while Jordan's armed forces said they had downed three missiles from the Islamic republic.
In Iraq, Kurdish forces said the US-led coalition downed eight explosive-laden drones over Erbil, the capital of the northern Kurdistan region, where AFP journalists heard explosions and saw smoke near the US consulate. No casualties were reported.
"Next week it gets really bad for them," Trump told Fox News, threatening to hit power plants and bridges unless Tehran returns to the negotiating table.
Despite renewed hostilities, mediated talks between the two sides have not formally ended.
But Iran's top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that "a memorandum of understanding only has meaning when its clauses are valid and being implemented."
"If Iran is not to derive any benefit from the memorandum of understanding, we have no reason to adhere," he said in a statement.
- Hormuz flashpoint -
At the heart of the renewed fighting is the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway crucial to global oil and gas flows.
Iran blockaded Hormuz after the war erupted with US-Israeli strikes on February 28, using the waterway for leverage against its foes for months.
The strait was briefly reopened after the US-Iran deal last month, before Tehran vowed last week it would be closed again "until the US ends its aggression".
Traffic through the waterway remained low, with maritime tracker Kpler reporting only 21 transits on Tuesday.
Oil prices ticked higher after the latest escalation, with investors weighing the risk that renewed fighting could further disrupt one of the world's most important energy routes.
The United States has also reimposed a blockade of Iran's ports, now enforced by the strike on the Belma.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the renewed US blockade "has, in a way, dismantled the Islamabad memorandum", referring to the interim deal reached last month.
Anxieties ran high in Iran. Khadijeh, 31, an artisan from Qasr-e Shirin in the southeast, said: "The little children are so frightened by the sound of explosions that they don't sleep until morning.
"If, God forbid, the war becomes more intense, then perhaps it will take several generations before we can get back on our feet."
Fears similarly abounded in Gulf countries hit repeatedly by Iranian strikes.
"Every day, I wake up wondering whether the situation will de-escalate or worsen," said Mustafa Mohamed, a 39-year-old Sudanese accountant living in Kuwait.
- Wider fallout -
Since the war began, Iran has asserted control over the Strait of Hormuz and opened fire on ships taking routes it says are unauthorized.
"The retaliatory operations of the fighters will continue," the Guards said.
A Norwegian tanker was hit by an explosion caused by an unidentified device off the Omani coast early Tuesday, the crisis response company MTI Network said.
Kuwait said one of its naval vessels was struck during an Iranian missile and drone barrage, wounding four crew members.
Trump meanwhile said he was scrapping a planned 20-percent levy on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz that he announced Monday, replacing the fee with trade deals with Gulf allies.
Since last week, renewed US attacks have killed at least 30 people in Iran, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said.
Separately, the military said seven of its personnel were killed in Wednesday's strikes on the southeast.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose country has so far not rejoined the war, warned Iranian leaders that Israel would strike heavily if attacked.
E.Mendoza--ECdLR
