President Trump said he plans to keep up the bombing campaign against Iran, warning that a major strike on the country’s power infrastructure would be held back as a final step unless Tehran agrees to return to negotiations.
Speaking to Fox News on Tuesday, Trump said American forces would strike Iran “very hard tonight” and again “very hard tomorrow night,” as part of an intense military operation that began Sunday.
“I’ll save the energy targets for last, but ultimately we’ll hit energy targets,” Trump cautioned.
He added: “We’re going to hit them very hard the night after, and then next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants.”
Trump also warned that bridges could be targeted next week if Iran refuses to pursue a peace agreement that would require it to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
The renewed US air campaign followed Trump’s notification to Congress that hostilities would resume after Iran allegedly violated the memorandum of understanding by attacking commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump did not dismiss the possibility of deploying US ground troops to achieve his central goals, particularly the removal of Iran’s enriched uranium.
While US forces had sought to avoid civilian casualties during the strikes, Trump issued a broader warning to Iran that all options remained under consideration.
‘You better make a deal, or you’re not going to have anything left,’ he said.
Donald Trump compared Iran to a boxer that they’ll stop hitting when ‘I say its enough’ as the US continued a week full of strikes on Tehran
In an interview with Fox News Channel, the president said the US plans to launch at least two more days of strikes against Iran and that such attacks will continue ‘until I say it’s enough’
The President also likened Iran to ‘a great boxer’ that needed to be put to the mat.
‘You think you have them beat, then they’ll come back and give you a shot,’ Trump said.
Trump suggested later in the interview with Fox News that he wasn’t interested in continuing negotiations immediately with Iran because ‘they lie.’
But he also said the last contact he had with negotiators was an hour ago.
The President praised his Cabinet for its work on the Iran issue, including Pete Hegseth, as he said ‘oil is flowing like never before.’
He also announced he was replacing the 20 percent fee the US was charging on the Strait of Hormuz to various Gulf States.
‘Those Investments will be MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,’ he wrote on Truth Social.
The US military says it has reimposed its blockade of Iranian ports in response to Iran’s attacks on commercial ships on the Strait of Hormuz, as the interim ceasefire deal unravels.
There are at least 19 warships in the northern Arabian Sea, including two aircraft carriers, and an amphibious assault ship with more than 1,000 Marines aboard, to enforce the blockade.
A still image from handout video released July 14, 2026 said to show a drone being launched by Iran from an unknown location to attack U.S. positions at Azraq base in Jordan
Members of the public attend a memorial ceremony service for the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at the Grand Mosalla of Tehran
US Central Command also said that there are ‘hundreds of military aircraft operating across the Middle East,’ in a social media post Tuesday.
The US military strikes that are hitting Iran just an hour ahead of the start of the naval blockade are aimed at limiting the country’s ability to strike merchant shipping, the military said.
According to a social media post by U.S. Central Command, the military is trying to ‘continue degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping.’
The blockade goes into effect at 4pm eastern time and, according to U.S. Central Command, the strikes began at 3pm.
Iranian state media, meanwhile, reported the sound of explosions in the southwestern city of Ahvaz and the southern port city of Bandar Abbas. The reports did not immediately provide further details.
It comes as nearly a dozen civilians have been killed, injured or are missing following Iranian attacks on seven commercial ships over the last week, the US military said Tuesday, as fighting escalated between the US and Iran.
Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads US Central Command, said in a statement that Iran also launched dozens of missiles and drones at neighboring Gulf countries.
‘US forces are holding Iran accountable for unwarranted aggression that continues to endanger innocent lives,’ Cooper said.
The US has reimposed its blockade of Iranian ports in response to Iran’s attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping corridor in the Middle East, as an interim ceasefire deal unravels and concerns grow about a return to all-out war.
The US had carried out another wave of strikes ahead of reimposing the blockade, the US military’s Central Command said.
The truce between the two nations collapsed last week when Iran struck three vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and the US retaliated with two rounds of strikes.
Trump pronounced the deal dead from the NATO summit in Ankara: ‘There’s something wrong with them. They’re cuckoo. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over.’
The Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf chokepoint carrying about a fifth of the world’s oil, has been a central flashpoint since the war began in February, sending markets spiraling with every escalation.
Brent crude vaulted above $86 a barrel after Tuesday’s strikes, piling onto Monday’s 8 percent leap as traders braced for a chokehold on the world’s most vital oil artery.
Over the last week, Iran has targeted various Middle Eastern countries that host US military bases, claiming responsibility for strikes in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar.
Some of the targets attacked by US forces included missile and drone sites, naval capabilities, ammunition storage facilities, and communication networks.
