U.S. Hits Iran Again After Trump's 'Ceasefire Is Over' Warning

Fighting between the United States and Iran flared up again this week after a brief truce collapsed. President Donald Trump announced that the ceasefire with Iran was finished and promised a strong military response, and hours later American forces struck Iranian targets for a second time in two days.

The trigger was a series of Iranian attacks on commercial ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that carries roughly a fifth of the world's oil and gas trade. Iran has been insisting it can charge ships fees to pass and can strike vessels that stray from routes it approves. After Iranian forces hit at least three ships, the U.S. military command overseeing the region said it struck more than 80 Iranian targets on Tuesday, including air-defence systems, radar stations, and dozens of small boats belonging to Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

Iran hit back quickly. Its Revolutionary Guards said they struck American military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain, and Kuwait confirmed it had intercepted missiles and drones aimed at it. A U.S. official said none of these Iranian strikes caused American casualties or serious damage. Explosions were also reported in several Iranian port cities, including near Bushehr, home to Iran's only civilian nuclear power plant, and close to Kharg island, which handles most of Iran's oil exports.

This latest flare-up is part of a wider conflict that began in February, when U.S. and Israeli strikes killed Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, who is due to be buried in his hometown on Thursday. Since then, tensions have repeatedly spilled into the Strait of Hormuz, a critical corridor Iran wants to control and the U.S. wants kept open for free passage.

Trump, speaking at a NATO summit, accused Iran of repeatedly violating their agreement and said the U.S. would respond forcefully, but he also suggested the confrontation would likely be short-lived and did not rule out returning to talks. His comments that the ceasefire was over sent oil prices up sharply, reflecting fears that a wider war could disrupt global energy supplies.

International mediators moved quickly to contain the situation. The United Nations chief called for maximum restraint from all sides, as did Pakistan, which has helped broker earlier U.S.-Iran talks. Iran's foreign minister spoke with Qatar's prime minister, and both stressed the importance of diplomacy over further military action.

Oman, sitting across the strait from Iran, condemned the strikes on ships and on Kuwait and Bahrain, though it stopped short of blaming Iran directly, trying to preserve its role as a neutral mediator. Oman had earlier proposed a safe transit corridor along its coast, but the ships attacked recently were sailing near that very route.

The human and economic toll is mounting. The head of the International Maritime Organisation said nearly 6,000 sailors remain stranded in the region as shipping traffic falters again after a brief recovery. Ordinary residents in Gulf countries, like a civil servant in Bahrain quoted in reports, describe renewed fear as the possibility of a larger war looms once more.