The United States military and Iran have continued targeting each other’s military assets in the Middle East after US President Donald Trump declared truce talks with Tehran over on Tuesday. US Military Central Command (CENTCOM) said it carried out fresh attacks on Iran for the second consecutive day, while Iran’s IRGC targeted the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain and Kuwait with missiles and drones.
The latest escalation on Wednesday is the most severe since both sides signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to end fighting earlier last month.
Iranian media on Wednesday night confirmed that eight of its soldiers were killed in the attacks while several more were injured.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the NATO Summit, Trump said a peace deal with Iran is over.
He added that the US was conducting fresh strikes in a bid to de-nuke Iran, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a long-time Iran hawk, said Tehran possesses chemical weapons — the same rhetoric he used against Iraq and Syria.
The latest attacks, which targeted Iranshahr, Bandar Abbas, Konarak, Chabahar, and Bushehr, all in southeastern Iran, and Aq Qala in northeastern Iran, have threatened a return to full-fledged war.
The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said on X on Wednesday that at President Donald Trump’s direction, its forces “have started conducting additional strikes against Iran to further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz”.
“The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway,” CENTCOM said.
“Wait for the hard slap from Iranians,” Ebrahim Rezaei — spokesman for the National Security Committee in Iran’s parliament — wrote on X following the US strikes on Wednesday, as he warned of a response to the latest attacks.
Earlier, CENTCOM said it hit “over 80 targets with precision munitions” before concluding the strikes approximately four hours after they had begun.
Also read: Trump says Iran accepts 'nearly' all US terms
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