The United States and Iran traded strikes on Thursday for the second day running as Washington and Tehran battled over the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The vital oil shipping corridor is a flashpoint in the Middle East war, with Tehran insisting on control of the strait despite it being open to free passage before the US-Israeli attacks in February.
After the foes traded attacks on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump said the ceasefire with Iran was “over”, but left the door open to more talks and added any strikes would end quickly.
US forces said the latest attacks against Iran were aimed at “their ability to threaten the freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz”, citing recent strikes against commercial ships in the waterway.
The US Central Command said they had struck approximately 90 military targets, including missile and drone storage as well as military logistics sites along Iran’s coastline.
Iran’s reprisals came quickly, with the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) saying they had struck “key infrastructure and facilities” at US bases in Arifjan and Ali Al Salem in Kuwait, and Juffair and Sheikh Isa in Bahrain.
An AFP journalist heard blasts in Bahrain’s capital Manama and Kuwait reported intercepting “hostile missile and drone attacks”.
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American strikes hit a railway bridge in Iran’s northeast, according to several official media, and the official IRNA news agency reported strikes on a military base in coastal Bushehr, which hosts the nation’s only civilian nuclear power plant.
Earlier, warplanes were heard over Iran’s Kish Island and explosions rocked the port cities of Bandar Abbas, Konarak and Chabahar, part of which lost electricity, IRNA reported.
“This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday. “If it happens again, it will get much worse!”
Late on Wednesday, while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said the Iranian side had “called a little while ago,” and that they wanted “to make a deal so badly”.
Trump did not provide further details of the call — including who was on the line — but went on to cast doubt over the value of any deal, calling the Iranians “sort of crazy”.
Iran’s chief negotiator said Thursday that the Strait of Hormuz would be opened only under “Iranian arrangements”.
“The United States still has not learned that bullying and breaking its promises no longer come without consequences,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on X. “Let me be clear: If you strike, you will be struck.”
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