The United States and Iran exchanged attacks for a second consecutive day on Thursday as tensions escalated over control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a key global shipping route.
The latest US strikes came after Washington said they were a response to Tuesday’s attack on three cargo vessels passing through the strait. The strikes followed comments from US President Donald Trump, who said he believed an interim ceasefire agreement with Iran was no longer in effect.
US forces said the operation targeted Iran’s ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, citing recent attacks on commercial ships in the waterway.
“This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The US military said its strikes hit around 90 military targets across Iran. The attacks affected several cities along Iran’s southern coastline, with some areas experiencing power outages.
Iran responded with further strikes targeting Kuwait and Bahrain, both of which host US military facilities. Kuwait’s Defence Ministry said it intercepted missiles and drones, while Qatar briefly issued an elevated security alert before later declaring the situation safe.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed responsibility for attacks on US bases in Bahrain and Kuwait, saying the strikes were carried out in response to American attacks.
The IRGC said it targeted “key infrastructure and facilities” at US bases in Kuwait’s Arifjan and Ali Al Salem, as well as Bahrain’s Juffair and Sheikh Isa facilities, using missiles and drones. It warned that further US attacks would lead to expanded retaliation against American bases across the region.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which around one-fifth of global oil supplies passed before the conflict, has become a major point of leverage for Tehran. However, Iran has not claimed responsibility for the attacks on the cargo ships that triggered the latest US response.
“The US has yet to learn that bullying and breaking its commitments no longer come without a cost. Let me be clear: If you strike, you will be struck back,” Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf wrote on X.
“The Strait of Hormuz will be reopened only under Iranian arrangements, not through US threats.”
The exchange of attacks has reduced hopes of transforming a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on June 17 into a permanent agreement aimed at ending the war, which began after US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.
Speaking ahead of a NATO summit in Turkey, Trump said he believed the agreement was finished.
“It’s a very interesting question. To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them,” Trump said when asked about the MoU.
“If we make a deal with Iran I’m not sure that will stick,” he later added, accusing Tehran of being “very dishonourable people”.
Despite the escalating confrontation, Trump said he did not expect a return to a prolonged war and suggested any further fighting would be brief.
“Anything that happens is going to be over very quickly … and will only make it safer, including for oil,” he said.
Major Iranian port targeted
Iranian media reported that US strikes mainly targeted areas along the country’s southern coast, stretching from the Strait of Hormuz to the Gulf of Oman.
Among the locations hit was Bandar Abbas, Iran’s largest port and a key base for naval and Revolutionary Guard operations. Strikes were also reported in Konarak and Chabahar, coastal cities near Iran’s border with Pakistan.
Power was restored in most parts of Chabahar after earlier strikes caused outages, according to Mehr news agency. Reports also said a maritime traffic control tower in the city was damaged.
State media reported that a firefighter was killed in a strike on an airport in the southeastern city of Iranshahr, while Press TV said a US attack damaged a railway bridge near Aqqala in northern Iran.
Before the latest US attacks, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei accused Washington of violating the June agreement, saying the strikes challenged Iran’s role in ensuring safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
A spokesperson for Iran’s parliamentary National Security Commission said possible responses could include leaving the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), changing the country’s nuclear policy, and closing the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, another important international shipping route.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations also accused the United States of a “blatant violation of the Charter of the United Nations and its international obligations”, arguing that the attacks breached the memorandum signed between the two countries.
