WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said the United States would probably launch further strikes on Iran and could resume a blockade on the country’s ports, ratcheting up pressure on Tehran and raising the prospect of a return to all-out war.
“We hit them very hard last night,” Trump said Wednesday on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. “Probably hit them hard again tonight.”
Trump spoke hours after the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, with almost 40 fighter jets — F-35s, F-15s, F-16s and F/A-18s as well as drones — hitting targets with precision-guided weapons, according to a U.S. official.
The U.S. earlier on Tuesday revoked a waiver that allowed Tehran to sell its oil globally, in response to attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz that it blamed on the Islamic Republic. The moves posed the greatest threat yet to a ceasefire deal between the United States and Iran and talks toward a broader agreement to end the war.
An Iranian adviser to the country’s supreme leader said in a post on X that Tehran would deliver an “immediate response” to the U.S. Iran’s Foreign Ministry said earlier that U.S. attacks and the block on oil sales had rendered the interim peace deal “ineffective.” Violations of Iran’s control over Hormuz and continued Israeli attacks in Lebanon have added to Tehran’s concerns, it said.
Both the U.S. and Iran have accused each other of violating a memorandum of understanding that established a short-term truce and set in motion a 60-day period for negotiations on a broader deal. That agreement also saw the U.S. lift a blockade of Iranian ports.
“We may put it back, the blockade, and it’ll only be a blockade for Iran,” Trump said.
He also said the U.S. could escalate by bombing infrastructure targets like desalination and power plants, repeating threats he made earlier in the conflict. Trump has in the past threatened strikes only to change his mind.
Oil prices climbed for a second day Wednesday with fresh worries about the flow of energy through the Strait of Hormuz. Economies around the world have been hit by higher costs from the war started by the U.S. and Israel in late February.
Earlier Wednesday, Trump said he thought the ceasefire was “over,” though, he added he would not stop negotiators from continuing to engage. When asked at a press conference later in the day if he thought the war would resume, Trump said, “I don’t think it’s going to start again.”
Issues to be resolved in discussions include management of the strait, Iran’s nuclear program and the release of billions of dollars of frozen funds to the Islamic Republic, but little headway has been made on any of the topics.
The U.S. for its part has blamed Iran for attacks on three ships in recent days. Iran has said repeatedly it won’t allow vessels to transit the crucial energy waterway without its permission. The U.S. military said it carried out strikes on more than 80 sites in Iran overnight, hitting air defense systems, command and control networks and coastal radar sites.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it struck military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, according to a statement carried by Iran’s state television.
Negotiations between the U.S. and Iran are currently suspended as Iran conducts a weeklong mass funeral for the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated on the first day of the conflict in late February.
The war and subsequent high energy prices have damaged the president’s political standing at a perilous moment for his party, which faces a tough fight for control of Congress in November midterm elections.
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(With assistance from Catherine Lucey, Michelle Jamrisko, John Bowker, Courtney Subramanian and Tony Capaccio.)
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