Trump Reveals Next Target After 5-Hour US Strike on Iran

The United States announced another wave of strikes on Iran on Monday, coming just hours after President Donald Trump said Washington was “reinstating” a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz. “We’re taking out all of their capability for anything having to do with the strait, the Hormuz Strait,” Trump told CBS News on Monday evening. “And I think in the end we will end up just controlling the whole thing.” Trump said the U.S. was ready to hit Iran “very hard” on Monday and Tuesday, naming the country’s heavily fortified nuclear site at Pickaxe Mountain as a potential target. “Pickaxe is a possible target for a nice big fat shot right in the front door,” he told Salem News Channel host Hugh Hewitt. “They have nothing going other than they have big mouths… I got to know them, and they’re stone cold crazy people.” Speaking later to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump defended the four-month-old war, saying U.S. forces had “knocked out” Iran’s navy, air force, missile capabilities and drone manufacturing. He said the latest strikes were intended to stop Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“We’re going to hit them very hard tonight and we’re going to hit them hard tomorrow and there’s not a damn thing they can do about it,” Trump said Monday. He argued that without U.S. military action, Tehran would already have a nuclear weapon and Israel and the rest of the Middle East “would not be with us.” The president accused Iran of stretching out negotiations “for 47 years,” saying his administration would no longer accept what he described as Tehran’s stalling tactics. “The difference is nobody negotiated like I do,” Trump said. “And this should have been done by Bush and Obama and Biden and people before them.”

Trump also said allied countries should help cover the cost of U.S. protection in the Strait of Hormuz. “I want to be reimbursed because we’re protecting a very rich portion of the world,” he said. Drawing a comparison with the Vietnam War, he claimed the U.S. military had inflicted significant damage in a far shorter period. “We were in Vietnam for 19 years. We’re here for four months, so I think we’ve done a lot,” Trump said.

Iran responded Monday night by attacking Bahrain and two tankers linked to the United Arab Emirates as they traveled through the strait, killing one mariner and wounding eight others. The Emirates threatened retaliation, raising the possibility that the country home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai could be pulled back into direct fighting with Tehran. The attacks unfolded as both Iran and the U.S. pushed for control of the strategic waterway, which in peacetime carried roughly one-fifth of the world’s crude oil and natural gas. It marked the third straight day of U.S. strikes on Tehran and the fifth such day in the past week. “At 4:45 p.m. ET today, U.S.”

Central Command began launching the third consecutive night of strikes against Iran, at the Commander in Chief’s direction,” CENTCOM said in a statement. “These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.” Iran has maintained that it controls the vital waterway, while the latest exchange of fire intensified fears of a return to full-scale war. Until now, the U.S. position had been that the strait should remain open to all vessels without tolls, as it was before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.

Any move by either Washington or Tehran to impose fees would run counter to global norms on freedom of navigation and could sharply escalate tensions, with economic consequences extending well beyond the region. The latest strikes came after Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt: “We’re going to hit them very hard tonight and we’re going to hit them hard tomorrow — and there’s not a damn thing they can do about it.” He added: “They have nothing. They have nothing going, other than they have big mouths.”

Benchmark Brent crude climbed 7.8% to $81.92 a barrel, still far below the nearly $120 level reached at the height of the war but high enough to raise concerns about broader price increases. Trump also claimed the U.S. would collect a 20 percent tariff for ensuring safe passage for commercial vessels through the Persian Gulf, though the specifics of the demand were not immediately clear. In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that the U.S. “will be, from this point forward, known as ‘The Guardian of the Hormuz Strait.’” He added: “The process and formation will begin immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

The blockade is not expected to begin immediately, as shipowners must receive 24 hours’ notice under maritime law. Oil prices jumped 5 percent, with Brent crude, the global benchmark, reaching $79.93 — its highest level since June 19. Saudi Arabia also launched strikes on Iran’s Houthi proxy terror group in Yemen, opening another front in the conflict after Iran struck five U.S. allies in the region. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels said Saudi warplanes bombarded Sanaa International Airport in Yemen. A spokesman for the group declared an “end to the de-escalation phase” and warned that the “aggression will not go unanswered or unpunished.”

The attack reportedly came as an Iranian aircraft attempted to land at the airport. Evacuation orders have been issued for the airport and surrounding areas. A Saudi-led military alliance based in Yemen’s south for a decade has been fighting the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels based in the north. Tehran says the fallout has already reached the negotiating table, with its foreign ministry claiming Trump’s memorandum of understanding with Iran has entered a ‘crisis phase.’ Asked about the escalating strikes across the region, Trump told Fox News: ‘We’re taking over the strait.’

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. The truce 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.’ US strikes continued this weekend after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth vowed revenge for the Iranian strike and said: ‘Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay.’

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) declared the strait closed until further notice after the attack, according to a statement cited by CNN. Iran 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, communication networks and coastal surveillance locations, US Central Command said. A spokesman added that President Trump directed the attacks ‘to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial vessels freely transiting the strait.’

Iran had said the strait was being shut down ‘given the precariousness that was caused by this unlawful interference by outside parties.’ The regime added that the waterway’s closure would be ‘until further notice and until regional interference by the US ceases’ and that ‘no vessel or naval craft will be allowed to pass.’ Iran said on Saturday it struck US facilities at Jordan’s Prince Hassan Air Base, claiming it destroyed a command center and drone hangars. Washington denied the regime’s claim, with a US official stating no Americans were hurt and no serious damage was done. Jordan said it shot down four missiles, and the three that landed caused only minor damage.