Trump orders second wave of airstrikes on Iran after Tehran attacks commercial ships in Strait of Hormuz

President Donald Trump declared the U.S.-Iran ceasefire "over" and ordered a second consecutive night of airstrikes against Iranian military targets after the regime attacked commercial shipping vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most critical waterways.

U.S. Central Command struck 90 Iranian targets overnight Wednesday into Thursday, hitting ports, air bases, and Revolutionary Guard assets across southern Iran. The strikes followed an initial round late Tuesday that destroyed more than 60 small boats used by Iran's Revolutionary Guard along with air defense systems and radar sites. In total, the Pentagon hit more than 170 targets across two nights, a pace that left no ambiguity about Washington's posture.

Iran responded with retaliatory fire against U.S. bases in neighboring countries. Explosions were reported in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar. Kuwait said it intercepted incoming drones and missiles. Air raid sirens sounded in Kuwait and Qatar early Thursday morning.

A ceasefire that didn't hold

The collapse came fast. Just weeks ago, the White House and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding that included a ceasefire, a U.S. commitment to $300 billion in reconstruction funding for Iran, and Iran's pledge to stop building nuclear weapons. A central term of the deal was the lifting of the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports.

That deal unraveled on July 7 when Iran attacked three commercial shipping vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, a provocation that, by any reasonable measure, violated the agreement's core premise. The Washington Examiner documented the rapid escalation from the June 17 MOU signing to Trump's July 8 declaration that the ceasefire was finished.

Trump made the announcement at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, leaving no room for diplomatic hedging.

"We hit them very hard last night... probably hit them hard again tonight. I'll give a little warning, we're going to hit them hard tonight."

He added: "For me, I think it's over."

On the question of continued negotiations, the president was blunt: "They can talk, but I think they're wasting their time."

Scope and targets of the strikes

The second wave of strikes Wednesday night targeted 90 sites, including the Iranshahr air base, confirmed by the U.S. military on social media as a facility used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iranian state media reported explosions across the southern coast: Chabahar, Konarak, Bandar Abbas, Sirik, and Bushehr, the last of which is home to Iran's nuclear power plant complex.

Power was knocked out in parts of Chabahar. Approximately 10 explosions were heard in Konarak alone. A railway bridge in Golestan province was also hit. The Revolutionary Guard confirmed that two bridges had been struck.

The earlier round late Tuesday, overseen by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, struck more than 80 targets including air defenses, radar installations, and anti-ship missile batteries. Sixty IRGC small boats were among the assets targeted. The scale of the combined operations reflects a military posture aimed not merely at signaling displeasure but at degrading Iran's capacity to threaten commercial traffic in the Persian Gulf.

CENTCOM's statement spelled out the rationale plainly:

"The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway."

The strikes, CENTCOM said, were intended "to further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation."

Iran's retaliation and regional fallout

Tehran did not absorb the strikes quietly. Iran claimed to have attacked U.S. bases in neighboring countries, and the evidence on the ground supported the claim. Explosions were reported in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, as well as in Kuwait and Qatar.

Kuwait's government said it intercepted drones and missiles. Both Kuwait and Qatar activated air raid sirens early Thursday. The conflict continued into July 9, significant enough to warrant continuous live coverage.

An image from the region showed an oil tanker burning at the Khor al-Zubair port near Basra, Iraq, after being hit by an Iranian strike in the ship-to-ship transfer zone, a stark illustration of the risks Iran's aggression poses to global energy infrastructure.

The approval boost Trump enjoyed after the original ceasefire deal now faces a new test as the situation escalates.

Trump's escalation ladder

The president has made clear he is prepared to go further. Trump threatened to reimpose the naval blockade on Iranian ports, the very blockade whose removal was a cornerstone of the now-collapsed MOU. He also raised the prospect of striking civilian infrastructure, specifically naming electric plants and desalinization facilities.

Perhaps most consequentially, Trump threatened to seize Kharg Island, the oil-production hub through which approximately 90 percent of Iranian oil exports pass. He had floated this idea before, questioning last month whether the U.S. "has the stomach for it."

The AP reported that the U.S. also revoked a license that had authorized Iran to sell crude oil on the international market for U.S. dollars, a privilege extended under the interim deal. That revocation compounds the economic pressure on a regime already reeling from the military strikes.

Trump's demands remain unchanged: Tehran must stop trying to produce a nuclear weapon and hand over its entire stockpile of enriched uranium. At the NATO summit, Trump described the Iranian government in unsparing terms and warned that any further provocations would draw a harsher response.

"This is in retribution for yesterday's bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!"

Newsmax reported that the strikes included 49 Tomahawk missiles, with some targets as close as 40 miles from Tehran, a proximity that itself sends a message about U.S. reach and intent.

Tehran's defiance, and the bounty

Iranian officials responded with the kind of rhetoric that has become familiar. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, described as a key negotiator in the ceasefire talks, posted on X:

"The era of bullying and extortion is over. It leads nowhere. We don't fold."

Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, another top negotiator, retorted that Trump's remarks "are not a sign of power but an admission of the failure" of U.S. policy toward Iran.

Iran's government also asserted that the interim ceasefire deal gives it the right to manage traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a claim that, if taken at face value, would grant the regime a veto over one of the world's most important shipping lanes. That is precisely the kind of interpretation that makes such agreements dangerous when signed with a government that negotiates in bad faith.

The backdrop grew darker still. At the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed on February 28, a state-backed speaker called for Trump's death. Trump acknowledged the threat directly: "I have a threat all the time. I'm number one of their list."

The original deal announcement now reads as a cautionary chapter in a story that has taken a far harder turn.

Market tremors and unanswered questions

The escalation rattled global markets. Brent crude surged to $78.39 per barrel, its highest since June 19. All three major U.S. stock indexes, the NASDAQ, Dow Jones, and S&P 500, ticked down, with futures falling roughly one point in pre-market trading Wednesday.

Those numbers may look modest now. But if Trump follows through on seizing Kharg Island or reimposing the naval blockade, the market impact could be far more severe. Ninety percent of Iran's oil exports flow through Kharg. A blockade or seizure would remove significant supply from global markets at a moment when energy prices are already climbing.

Several questions remain unanswered. No casualty figures have been released from either side. The specific commercial vessels Iran attacked on July 7 have not been publicly identified by name. And while Trump has said he is "considering" reimposing the naval blockade, no formal announcement has been made.

The administration's internal posture also bears watching. Trump has previously considered removing senior officials who opposed the original Iran deal, a signal that dissent within the national security apparatus could shape how far and how fast the next moves come.

The pattern is the point

What happened this week follows a pattern that predates this administration. The United States extends a diplomatic hand. The Iranian government takes what it can, sanctions relief, a lifted blockade, access to dollar-denominated oil sales, and then tests the limits of the agreement almost immediately. When consequences arrive, Tehran cries victimhood and accuses Washington of bullying.

The difference this time is that consequences actually arrived. Two nights of strikes. More than 170 targets. Sixty Revolutionary Guard boats. Air bases. Radar. Missile batteries. Ports. Bridges. And a president who said, on the record, that it will "get much worse" if Iran tries it again.

Whether that promise holds will determine more than the fate of this particular confrontation. It will determine whether the Strait of Hormuz remains open to the world, or whether a regime that signed a deal last month and broke it this week gets to decide who sails through.

Agreements mean nothing when one side treats them as a pause to reload. The administration appears to understand that now.