U.S. launches new strikes on Iran as Hormuz tensions escalate

The escalation moved from warning to action in hours: after President Donald Trump said Iran would “have to pay the price” if no peace deal was secured, the U.S. military launched fresh strikes on multiple targets inside Iran and called them “additional self-defense strikes.” The new attacks came as the confrontation sharpened around the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that carries a huge share of the world’s oil shipments and sits at the center of the wider war risk now building across the Gulf.

The strikes were carried out at 5:15 p.m. Washington time, or 2115 GMT, according to U.S. Central Command. Trump said Iran had taken too long to negotiate and warned that the United States could strike again “very hard” if diplomacy failed. One report said he was nearing a decision to target Iranian power plants and bridges, a sign that Washington’s goals could expand beyond immediate retaliation and into pressure on the country’s infrastructure.

Iran answered with missile and drone attacks on U.S. military bases in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain, according to Iranian media. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also claimed a drone strike on the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain. Those claims, whether or not all were independently confirmed, underscored how quickly the fighting had spread from direct strikes on Iranian targets to a broader exchange involving regional bases and the American military footprint across the Gulf.

The United States has also moved to protect shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, including a secret escort operation involving vessels carrying more than 100 million barrels of oil. That step points to the central danger in the standoff: if Iran or allied groups try to interrupt traffic through the strait, the fallout would hit energy markets far beyond the region and could drive fuel prices higher almost immediately.

The political response has widened too. French President Emmanuel Macron said leaders from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates would be invited to a G7 session in France next week to discuss the Middle East war, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and negotiations on Iran. The next phase now appears bound to test whether these strikes remain a contained show of force or become the opening of a wider conflict with no clear off-ramp.