U.S. launches fifth straight day of strikes on Iran

The U.S. kept up back-to-back strikes on Iran on Wednesday, extending the campaign to a fifth straight day as President Donald Trump told lawmakers in a letter that military action against Iran had restarted last week. U.S. Central Command said the latest attacks targeted Iranian military sites used to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, including coastal defense systems and cruise missile storage and launch sites on Greater Tunb Island.

The strikes pointed to a narrow operational goal, keeping the waterway open for commercial vessels, but they also widened the risk of a regional clash. The Strait of Hormuz carries about a fifth of global oil and gas shipments, and Greater Tunb Island sits inside a decades-old territorial dispute that has long raised the stakes for any military move in the strait.

Iran said the overnight U.S. airstrikes injured more than 260 people, according to Iranian Health Ministry spokesperson Hossein Kermanpour, and Tehran said more than 30 civilians were killed in the latest round of attacks. Iran responded with drone and missile attacks on U.S. and allied sites in Bahrain and Kuwait, where sirens were reported in Bahrain and the Kuwaiti army said it intercepted missiles and drones.

Trump escalated the rhetoric as the fighting deepened, saying the ceasefire was “over” and warning Iran’s leaders that they “better behave.” He also said he was prepared to keep striking until Iran agreed to negotiate, sharpening questions about how far Washington is willing to go and what would count as success beyond disrupting Iranian military capabilities.

CENTCOM said the strikes hit multiple targets in response to Iran’s continued aggression, while the broader campaign has already hit dozens of sites and marked the worst escalation since the ceasefire began to unravel. The combination of attacks on Iranian territory, retaliatory fire toward Bahrain and Kuwait, and pressure on a shipping lane that underpins global energy flows has left the conflict with no clear off-ramp and a growing chance that a miscalculation could pull in more of the region.