President Donald Trump’s war on Iran continues to escalate with no end in sight as the two sides vie for control of the Strait of Hormuz, after the United States resumed a naval blockade on Iranian ports.
U.S. forces renewed their strikes on Iran at 6 a.m. ET, after spending the overnight hours striking dozens of military targets near the strait in a “seven-hour wave” aimed at reducing Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping, according to U.S. Central Command.
Trump was adamant about the surging U.S. strikes. “They’ll continue until I say that’s enough,” Trump told Fox News in an interview on Tuesday.
Iranian leaders promised that further threats from the United States would not make them back off their ambitions of controlling the critical shipping lane that has become the focus of the conflict, state media reported.
U.S. Central Command defended the latest attacks as an effort aimed at saving sailors passing through the strait.
“U.S. forces are holding Iran accountable for unwarranted aggression that continues to endanger innocent lives,” Central Command Chief Adm. Brad Cooper said in a statement.
According to Cooper, Iranian forces have attacked seven commercial vessels over the past week, leaving “nearly a dozen civilian crew members killed, missing, or injured.”
Natalie Neysa Alund
As tensions between the United States and Iran continue to flair, U.S. forces have redirected two commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz since it reinstated the blockage against Iranian ports on Tuesday, July 14, CENTCOM announced.
The federal agency did not say which country the ships belong to, but in a Wednesday, July 15, post on X, CENTCOM said the vessels were “attempting to run the blockade.”
“The U.S. military remains vigilant and prepared to ensure full compliance,” the federal agency wrote.
Joey Garrison
The United States completed another round of strikes on Iran at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday on Iran’s Greater Tunb Island, the U.S. Central Command said, as the attacks escalate during the fifth straight day of strikes between the two sides.
The strikes targeted coastal defense systems and cruise missile storage and launch sites on Iran’s Greater Tunb Island during a wave of attacks that lasted 90 minutes, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement. The attacks began at 6 a.m. ET
“The strikes further degraded Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” the statement said.
Erin Mansfield
The United States launched a fresh wave of attacks on Iran at 6 a.m. ET on Wednesday, U.S. Central Command announced on social media.
“The strikes are designed to further degrade military capabilities Iranian forces have used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” the announcement said.
The strikes came after a previous round of attacks that started at 10 p.m. ET on Tuesday.