WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military hit targets in Iran on Tuesday after it said Tehran tried to attack commercial ships and American forces in the Middle East, as hostilities flare once again in an intermittent war that has lasted more than six months.
The U.S. strikes, and others on Sunday, abruptly ended a month without military action and threatens to fully reprise a conflict that has spiked global oil prices and posed political problems for Republicans
in November's midterm congressional elections. The renewed fighting comes after President Donald Trump appeared to pivot last month toward trying to bend Iran to his will through economic sanctions.
“If the failed Nation of Iran retaliates for this very justified attack, they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level, but it will not be the biggest attack of them all, that is waiting in the wings,” Trump warned on social media after U.S. Central Command announced the latest strikes.
Iranian state TV reported the sound of explosions in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas on Tuesday but did not provide more details.
The U.S. and Iran are both seeking control over the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway off Iran's coast through which 20% of the world's oil normally flows. Tehran’s effectively closed it after the war began.
The Trump administration has argued that striking the right economic target would get Tehran to its breaking point. But at the same time, U.S. stockpiles of advanced weapons have been diminishing, while the war has been unpopular among Americans and could make Republicans vulnerable in November’s midterm elections.
A return to open conflict would be dangerous for the region, where Iran has targeted U.S. military bases and infrastructure in Gulf countries since the war began.
U.S. Central Command said Sunday that its forces struck rocket launchers that would sea mines into the strait, while the U.S. military said Tuesday's strikes were a reaction to attempted attacks on ships in the strait and American forces in the region.
Iran responded to Sunday's attacks by launching missiles at U.S. sites in Jordan, which were intercepted, while United Arab Emirates said it stopped an Iranian drone over its waters. President Donald Trump acknowledged Monday that more strikes might be necessary.
The American military in recent days has cast the renewed fighting as limited, though Trump had acknowledged Monday that more strikes might be necessary.
U.S. Central Command said in a statement on X on Monday that its attacks on Iranian targets on Sunday were narrowly focused on preventing Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard forces from placing new mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
“U.S. forces took limited, precise action against IRGC minelaying forces posing an imminent threat in the Strait of Hormuz,” U.S. Central Command said. “In essence, Iran created the threat and the U.S. military eliminated it to protect civilian mariners, commercial shipping, and the free flow of global commerce.”
Central Command reiterated Tuesday that its attacks followed Iranian aggression against commercial vessels and American troops in the region.
