Washington/Tehran – The US military announced late Wednesday that it is conducting strikes against Iranian military targets in the Strait of Hormuz.
“At the direction of the Commander in Chief, US Central Command forces have started conducting additional strikes against Iran to further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM tweets.
“The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway,” it adds.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday fumed at Iran following renewed military hostilities overnight, saying he thought the US-Iran memorandum of understanding “is over,” calling Tehran’s leadership “scum” and adding: “We’re going to hit them hard tonight.”
The US leader’s statements came while taking questions from reporters at a summit of NATO leaders in Ankara, and followed overnight US strikes on the country in response to Tehran’s attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran later retaliated to the US strikes, launching missiles and drones at the US’s Gulf allies Bahrain and Kuwait, the latter of which said it intercepted two ballistic missiles and 13 drones.
“To me, I think it’s over,” Trump said of the truce agreement.
“I don’t want to deal with them. They’re scum,” the president said of the Iranians. “They’re sick people. They’re led by sick people. And they’re vicious, violent people. And if they had a nuclear weapon, they’d use it. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over.”
He went on: “There’s something wrong with them. They’re cuckoo. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over… Everything I did, I was successful, and I deal with these guys and I say, ‘This is from a different school.’ They’re liars, they’re cheats, they’re sick people. Frankly I don’t want to waste my time with them. Now, I’ll let our wonderful negotiators keep talking if they want, but I don’t see it. I don’t like these people.”
The US leader said American forces had hit Iran “very hard last night” and “we’ll probably hit them hard again tonight. I’ll give him a little warning. We’re going to hit [them] hard tonight, but we’ll see how it all works out.” President Donald Trump expressed frustration today with leaders in Iran after the breakdown of his administration’s memorandum of understanding with the country overnight, suggesting that Iran’s leadership “may be gone” following the resumption of hostilities.
“They were the bully of the Middle East, so they’re a much different country now,” Trump told reporters at the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey on Wednesday. “Everything’s gone, their leaders are gone. They had leaders, they’re gone, and they had another set of leaders, they’re gone, now they have another set of leaders, they may be gone, who knows?”
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi called US President Donald Trump “criminal and murderous” on Wednesday in response to his threats to launch fresh strikes on Iran.
Earlier in the day, Trump said the US memorandum of understanding with Tehran was “over,” and he threatened to launch another round of attacks. “We hit them very hard last night, very probably hit them hard again tonight,” he said.
In response, Gharibabadi said Trump’s remarks were “not a sign of strength but an admission of the failure of a policy built for years on force, sanctions and threats, which ultimately failed to bring the Iranian nation to its knees.”
“The criminal and murderous Trump should be spoken to in the language he understands, apparently, that is the language of force,” Gharibabadi posted on X.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said — without directly mentioning Trump’s comments — that addressing Iran with “derogatory language does not diminish its greatness.” He added that Tehran would respond to any “vulgarity” with “action,” without specifying what form such action would take.
Meanwhile, Esmaeil Baghaei, a spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, posted on X that the US has “effectively violated” the memorandum due to its “unilateral actions as well as its military attacks against Iran.”
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will continue to safeguard its national interests and exercise its sovereignty with determination,” Baghaei said.
Eight Iranian military members were killed in US strikes overnight, the Iranian Army’s Public Relations Office said Wednesday, according to Iranian media.
The rare announcement of Iranian military casualties, listed by name and rank, was made after US President Donald Trump threatened to hit Iran “hard again tonight.” Trump also said he believes that the US-Iranian memorandum of understanding signed last month “is over.”
Attacks have repeatedly threatened the shaky ceasefire, but Trump’s comments added new uncertainty, and oil prices shot up after he spoke. A renewed conflict could engulf the wider Middle East and would likely again halt energy shipments through the strait that are crucial to the global economy.
Elaborating further at a later press conference, Trump said he may reinstate the American blockade of Iranian ports, in what would mark a further collapse of the MOU: “They may put down the blockade. We may put it back… It’ll only be a blockade for Iran. Anybody else can have whatever they want,” he said, before acknowledging that Iran may respond by dropping mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
As part of the MOU, the US agreed to lift the blockade that it put in place on Iran’s ports during the war, in response to Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz.
Asked again about his plans to strike Iran again Wednesday night, Trump replied: “There’s not a thing they can do about it.”
He again claimed that the US was holding off on attacking civilian infrastructure sites in Iran, but said he could authorize their targeting as well, and said that the US had targeted Kharg Island, Iran’s oil hub, in Tuesday night’s attack, but refrained from bombing the oil infrastructure there. That claim was not immediately verified.
US President Donald Trump denies that the war with Iran is starting up again, claiming that the current escalation will wrap up quickly, as Washington seeks to prevent oil prices from climbing back up.
“I don’t think it’s going to start again. I think it’s going to go very quickly. They hit a couple of ships, and so we hit them much harder,” Trump says during a press conference at the conclusion of a NATO summit in Ankara.
“Anything that happens is going to be over very quickly, and we’ll only make it safer — including for oil,” Trump stresses, adding that the US has managed to get significant amounts of oil out of the Strait of Hormuz since the memorandum of understanding was reached with Iran last month.
“We’re not looking for long term,” Trump stresses.
Critics of Trump say Iran is exploiting the US aversion to a dragged out conflict and aware that the president does not want oil prices to rise again as the November midterms approach.
Trump reiterates that his negotiators are still engaging with Iran before paradoxically declaring, “I’m not sure I want to make a deal. Let’s just finish the job.”
Iran has issued a warning that it will not back down from its insistence that it manage the flow of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, an Iranian security force official told media in the country.
“The memorandum of understanding signed on this matter clearly states that Iran will reopen the strait in accordance with its own arrangements. Therefore, Iran will not permit the establishment of any new route outside the framework of its own arrangements,” the source tells Iran’s Press TV.
The source says Iran will close the Strait of Hormuz in response to any renewed attacks against the country.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responds to US President Donald Trump’s comments previewing additional US strikes against Iran.
“Addressing the civilized and courageous nation of Iran with derogatory language does not diminish its greatness,” Araghchi tweets. “Iranians are known for their civility, culture, and strong moral values. We do not answer vulgarity with vulgarity, but with action: fearlessly and with great valor.”
