U.S. launches new strikes on Iran as Trump vows escalation

U.S. forces launched another round of strikes inside Iran early Thursday, deepening an exchange that already had Iranian fire reaching Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, all of which host U.S. troops. President Donald Trump said at the White House, “We’re going to hit them again hard today,” then said the military would strike Iran “hard” overnight as his administration signaled a willingness to widen the campaign rather than pause it.

The latest attacks followed retaliatory U.S. airstrikes on Wednesday after Iran downed an American Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz. Those earlier strikes hit radar and air defense sites inside Iran, according to a U.S. official cited by POLITICO, and both pilots survived and were recovered. The target set suggested a focus on degrading Iran’s ability to track aircraft and missiles, but the overnight round raised a more serious question: whether Washington was trying to contain the fight or open a longer air campaign.

The stakes extend beyond the immediate battlefield. The Strait of Hormuz is a crucial passageway for oil and natural gas shipments, giving Iran a potential lever if it seeks to retaliate against the world economy. The conflict has already driven up energy prices and made food and other basic goods more expensive, and a sustained disruption in the waterway would almost certainly ripple through global markets within hours, not days.

Iran responded by warning against negotiations under pressure. Iran’s U.N. envoy, Amir Saeid Iravani, said Tehran would never negotiate under threats and pressure, while Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the U.S. strike a “test of our determination” and warned that Iran’s armed forces would not leave any attack unanswered. Iranian fire into Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan suggested Tehran was also trying to broaden the pressure on countries that host U.S. forces and complicate any effort to ring-fence the conflict.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed Trump’s posture, saying the United States was prepared to strike Iran “hard” if needed. Bloomberg reported that the renewed attacks could become Washington’s most sustained military offensive against Iran since the ceasefire that took effect in April, underscoring how fragile that truce had become. The danger in the next 24 to 72 hours is clear: more strikes on U.S. personnel, more risk to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and more upward pressure on oil and gas markets if the exchange keeps widening.