The United States escalated its campaign against Iran early Thursday, striking targets farther north while U.S. forces also fired on a vessel they said was attempting to breach the naval blockade imposed on the Islamic Republic.
Iran responded before dawn with missile and drone attacks aimed at Bahrain and Kuwait.
The latest exchange of fire between Washington and Tehran, coupled with renewed threats involving the Strait of Hormuz, has effectively unraveled the interim agreement meant to halt the Iran war and raised fears that the region could slide back into a broader conflict.
Iranian officials say U.S. strikes have already killed more than 35 people and wounded over 300 others.
After the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran moved to effectively close the strait to maritime traffic, sending prices for oil, fertilizer and a range of other goods sharply higher well beyond the Middle East while giving Iran significant leverage at the negotiating table.
Those price spikes have created a growing political problem for U.S. President Donald Trump and the Republican Party as they seek to hold control of Congress in November’s elections.
Washington, however, has been unable to fully reopen the vital waterway, prompting Trump on Wednesday to reimpose the naval blockade on Iran.
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker and lead negotiator, warned that Tehran was ready for a larger military confrontation if the U.S. fails to honor the interim deal. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard also threatened to stop all Middle East energy exports in response to the blockade.
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“The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one,” the Guard said.
Trump again insisted Iran was ready to strike a peace deal, but he did not elaborate.
“They don’t like what we’re doing, and they do want to settle. We’ll find out whether or not we settle with them, or we just finish it off,” he said Wednesday at a defense summit at the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania.
