Dubai: President Donald Trump warned Iran on Wednesday that the US was preparing for another night of strikes, just hours after he said the ceasefire was over because of Iranian attacks.
A day after assaults on commercial shipping escalated into an exchange of fire on Iranian and US military targets, Trump renewed his past threats to strike Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including electric plants and desalinization plants, and to seize the oil-production hub of Kharg Island.
“We hit them very hard last night,” Trump said when asked about a possible return to hostilities. “We’ll probably hit them hard again tonight.”
Speaking on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkiye, Trump said the strikes are continued retaliation for Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
“They are behaving very badly,” he said of Iran, accusing the country of launching drones and a missile at ships. After three tankers were hit Tuesday, the US launched strikes on Iran, and Iranian forces retaliated by attacking American military sites in the Gulf.
The latest exchange of fire raised fears that the war in Iran could reignite, and Trump fuelled those concerns by saying the interim agreement to pause fighting was “over,” although he added that he would allow negotiations to continue.
Attacks have repeatedly threatened the shaky ceasefire, but Trump’s comments added new uncertainty, and oil prices shot up after he spoke. A renewed conflict could engulf the wider Middle East and would likely again halt energy shipments through the strait that are crucial to the global economy.
“For me, I think it’s over,” Trump said when asked about the status of the ceasefire. He added that US representatives can continue negotiations, but he cast doubt on the outcome. “They can talk, but I think they’re wasting their time,” he said.
Trump has threatened to seize Kharg Island at previous points in the war, including last month, when he also questioned whether the US “has the stomach for it.” Some 90 per cent of Iranian oil exports pass through the island.
The renewed attacks on ships in the strait, despite the negotiations, could reflect a divide among Iran’s leadership. Hard-liners seek lasting control over the waterway, which is a globally important conduit for fuel shipments and has become a critical lever in confronting the West. Pragmatists, meanwhile, want a permanent peace deal to lift international sanctions and provide desperately needed economic relief.
Negotiations to reach a final deal had been due to start after the dayslong funeral for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed Feb. 28 in the war’s first moments. The funeral, which ends Thursday, was supposed to be a period of lower tensions.
The talks are meant to focus on the toughest matters, including fully reopening the strait and rolling back Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.
“The era of bullying and extortion is over,” Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X. “It leads nowhere. We don’t fold.”
The US military’s Central Command said American forces launched strikes “to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.”
It said it hit Iranian targets including air-defence systems, radars and over 60 small boats used by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
Those boats have been key to threatening ships in the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas passed before the war. Iran’s ability to bring shipping in the waterway to a near halt during the war proved its greatest strategic advantage.
Rising prices for energy supplies, fertiliser and food put pressure on the US to make a deal. On Wednesday, the price of Brent crude, the international standard, spiked over 5 per cent after Trump’s comments.
Iranian state media reported explosions in several locations, including in Bandar Mahshahr, where a Revolutionary Guard member was killed. It also reported attacks on Bushehr, home to Iran’s nuclear power plant complex.
On Wednesday morning, both Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, and Kuwait, home to US Army forces, sounded missile alerts. The Revolutionary Guard issued a statement acknowledging targeting US military installations in both countries.
Kuwait said it intercepted two ballistic missiles and 13 drones launched by Iran. The Kuwaiti Electricity Ministry said a number of lines were out of service after shrapnel fell on them.
A similar spate of Iranian attacks on shipping and US retaliatory strikes occurred late last month, which drew Iranian attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait. Wednesday’s strikes came as Trump was in Turkiye for a summit of the NATO military alliance.
Anwar Gargash, a senior diplomat in the United Arab Emirates, called Iran’s attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait “a clear indicator that Tehran remains incapable of committing to the requirements of de-escalation and turning the page on war.”
After the Iranian strikes on shipping, the US revoked a license that — for the first time in years — had allowed Iran to conduct oil sales openly in US dollars, as part of the interim deal. Iran long had been suspected of selling sanctioned crude at below-market prices to China.
Iran and the United States agreed as part of the interim deal to allow ships to pass through the strait without paying charges for 60 days. But Tehran has insisted it must control the vessels’ routes and vowed to later charge fees for passage. That would upend decades of practice in the waterway. The ships attacked Tuesday all appeared to be using a route close to Oman’s shore, rather than one ordered by Tehran.
The US and many Gulf Arab states say they will not agree to Iran charging for passage through the strait.
Mourners attend Khamenei’s funeral services in Iraq
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Falah al-Zaidi and other Iranian and Iraqi officials attended funeral ceremonies for Khamenei on Wednesday in the Iraqi city of Najaf. Funeral prayers were planned later at the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala.
Khamenei’s body will then be returned to Iran to be buried Thursday at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, his birthplace.
