Web desk(National Times)- The United States launched fresh attacks against Iran on Thursday, prompting Tehran to retaliate, as US leaders accused their counterparts of dragging out negotiations for a deal to end the three-month war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second straight day of tit-for-tat strikes, with Iran targeting US bases across the Gulf, sent oil prices rising again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US President Donald Trump, who had repeatedly said negotiations with Tehran were close to an end, said on Wednesday that Iran keeps \u201cplaying us for suckers\u201d and will now \u201chave to pay the price\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hours after, US Central Command (Centcom) said American forces began \u201cadditional self-defence strikes\u201d at 5:15pm on Wednesday Washington time \u2014 early Thursday in Iran \u2014 in response to what it called Tehran\u2019s \u201cunwarranted and continued aggression\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iranian media reported explosions across the south near the Strait of Hormuz, with explosions heard in Bandar Abbas, Qeshm and Minab, and sources reporting hits by \u201cenemy projectiles\u201d in Kargan and Sirik.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Centcom said later that it had \u201ccompleted\u201d its strikes on \u201cIranian military surveillance capabilities, communication systems, and air defence sites\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
American forces \u201cfired precision munitions on Iranian targets that posed a threat to US forces and international commercial ships transiting regional waters\u201d, the command said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The renewed hostilities came as Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said that if Trump required it, \u201cwe\u2019ll negotiate with bombs, and we\u2019re very good at it\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In response to the US strikes, Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said they had struck US targets on bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, and that they also \u201chit and destroyed Sheikh Isa air bases\u201d, according to the state-run IRNA<\/em> news agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Iranian media said the army had conducted drone strikes targeting communications antennas and radar facilities belonging to the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An air raid alert was issued in Bahrain and residents were urged to \u201chead to the nearest safe place\u201d, the Gulf nation\u2019s interior ministry said on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kuwait closed its airspace temporarily as its military said its air defence systems were working to intercept \u201chostile aerial targets\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Iran also renewed its warning over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for oil and gas transport which it has essentially closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAre you making the sacred Strait of Hormuz unsafe?! We will make the region hell for you,\u201d Majid Mousavi, the head of the Iranian Guards\u2019 aerospace force, said in a social media post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Iranian navy said it had hit two ships trying to sail through the Strait of Hormuz, state television IRIB<\/em> and the Mehr<\/em> agency reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another Iranian news agency, Tasnim<\/em>, quoted the country\u2019s military operational command as saying the crucial waterway was \u201ccompletely closed\u201d and that \u201cany vessel traffic\u201d there would be targeted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Centcom denied that, saying \u201ccommercial ships are continuing to transit in and out of the Strait of Hormuz tonight\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump said on Wednesday that the US military had secretly helped 100 million barrels of oil pass through the contested strait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier, American broadcaster Fox News<\/em> reported that Trump said Iranian leaders had called him directly in the White House Situation Room as the US bombs began falling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Iran\u2019s IRGC quickly denied Tehran had done so, the IRNA<\/em> news agency said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump said US forces hit Iran with 49 Tomahawk missiles and some targets were as close as 60 kilometres from Tehran, Fox News<\/em> said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Its reporter Trey Yingst, who spoke to Trump, quoted the president as saying that if Iran did not accept US terms for ending the war, \u201cWe\u2019ll bomb the S out of them tomorrow night\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was the second straight day of US attacks, following tit-for-tat strikes<\/a> this week partly in response to the Iranian downing<\/a> of an American helicopter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fresh salvos followed Trump\u2019s complaint that Tehran\u2019s negotiators were taking too long, having suggested earlier this week that an accord was days away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe hit them hard yesterday. We\u2019re going to hit them again hard today,\u201d Trump told reporters on Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hegseth suggested the strikes could extend into a third night, saying they would be \u201cstrong\u201d and \u201cclear\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The escalation drew international calls for restraint on the eve of the World Cup, which the United States is co-hosting and Iran is participating in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n UN chief Antonio Guterres cautioned against a return to \u201cfull war\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Iran\u2019s UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani, meanwhile, rejected Trump\u2019s threat, saying \u201cno sustainable deal can be reached through threats, intimidation, or the use of force\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, diplomacy has not collapsed entirely, with Qatari negotiators travelling to Tehran \u201cto meet with the Iranians in an effort to bridge the remaining gaps\u201d, a diplomat with knowledge of the situation said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The war began in February with US-Israeli strikes<\/a> on Iran, shaking the geopolitical balance in the Middle East and roiling global markets before a ceasefire<\/a> took effect on April 8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asian stocks tracked losses in New York, while oil prices jumped as much as two per cent on Thursday, extending similar gains the day before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Iran has also insisted that any deal to end the war must include a truce in Lebanon, where Israel and Hezbollah have been fighting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Web desk(National Times)- The United States launched fresh attacks against Iran on Thursday, prompting Tehran to retaliate, as US leaders accused their counterparts of dragging out negotiations for a deal to end the three-month war. The second straight day of tit-for-tat strikes, with Iran targeting US bases across the Gulf, sent oil prices rising again. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n<\/a>\u2018Bomb the s out of them\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n