DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — President Donald Trump threatened Wednesday to unleash more military strikes against Iran after saying that Iranian attacks signaled the end of the ceasefire. But he later said the most recent exchange of fire with the Islamic Republic did not herald a return to full-scale war.
Trump, who is known for sending mixed messages about his intentions, has repeatedly threatened to escalate strikes against Iran, only to pull back after claiming diplomatic progress. He said Wednesday that the U.S. would “probably hit them hard again tonight,” and later added that the latest back-and-forth fighting would not result in “long-term” military action.
“Anything that happens is going to happen very fast,” Trump said, though he also suggested the U.S. military might “just finish the job.”
A day after assaults on commercial shipping escalated into an exchange of strikes on Iranian and U.S. military targets, Trump also renewed his past threats to hit Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including electric plants and desalinization plants, and to seize the oil-production hub of Kharg Island.
Speaking on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Trump said the strikes are continued retaliation for Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
“They are behaving very badly,” he said of Iran, accusing the country of launching drones and a missile at ships. After three tankers were hit Tuesday, the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, and Iranian forces retaliated by attacking American military sites in the Persian Gulf.
Iran has asserted that the interim ceasefire deal gives it the right to manage traffic through the strait. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a key negotiator in talks seeking a permanent end to the war, was defiant in a post on X: “The era of bullying and extortion is over. It leads nowhere. We don’t fold.”
Strikes raise fears that war could resume
The latest exchange of fire raised fears that the war in Iran could reignite, and Trump fueled those concerns by saying the interim agreement to pause fighting was “over,” although he added that he would allow negotiations to continue.
Attacks have repeatedly threatened the shaky ceasefire, but Trump’s comments added new uncertainty, and oil prices shot up after he spoke. A renewed conflict could engulf the wider Middle East and would likely again halt energy shipments through the strait that are crucial to the global economy.
“For me, I think it’s over,” Trump said when asked about the status of the ceasefire. He added that U.S. representatives can continue negotiations, but he cast doubt on the outcome. “They can talk, but I think they’re wasting their time,” he said.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, also a top negotiator, retorted on X that Trump’s remarks “are not a sign of power but an admission of the failure” of U.S. policy toward Iran.
Trump has threatened to seize Kharg Island at previous points in the war, including last month, when he also questioned whether the U.S. “has the stomach for it.” Some 90% of Iranian oil exports pass through the island.
The new attacks on ships in the strait, despite the negotiations, could reflect a divide among Iran’s leadership. Hard-liners seek lasting control over the waterway, which is a globally important conduit for fuel shipments and has become a critical lever in confronting the West. Pragmatists want a permanent peace deal to lift international sanctions and provide desperately needed economic relief.
Negotiations to reach a final deal had been due to start after the dayslong funeral for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed Feb. 28 in the war’s first moments. The funeral, which ends Thursday, was supposed to be a period of lower tensions.
The talks are meant to focus on the toughest matters, including fully reopening the strait and rolling back Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.
US military says it hit air defenses and small boats
The U.S. military’s Central Command said American forces launched strikes “to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.”
The military said it hit Iranian targets including air-defense systems, radars and over 60 small boats used by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
Those boats have been key to threatening ships in the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas passed before the war. Iran’s ability to bring shipping in the waterway to a near halt during the war proved its greatest strategic advantage.
Rising prices for energy supplies, fertilizer and food put pressure on the U.S. to make a deal.
Iranian state media reported explosions in several locations, including in Bandar Mahshahr, where a Revolutionary Guard member was killed. State television said eight members of the Army’s air and naval forces were killed in Bandar Abbas and Bushehr; the latter is home to Iran’s nuclear power plant complex.
On Wednesday morning, both Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, and Kuwait, home to U.S. Army forces, sounded missile alerts. The Revolutionary Guard issued a statement acknowledging targeting U.S. military installations in both countries.
Kuwait said it intercepted two ballistic missiles and 13 drones launched by Iran. The Kuwaiti Electricity Ministry said a number of lines were out of service after shrapnel fell on them.
US revokes license allowing the sale of Iranian oil
After the Iranian strikes on shipping. the U.S. revoked a license that — for the first time in years — had allowed Iran to conduct oil sales openly in U.S. dollars, as part of the interim deal.
Iran and the United States agreed as part of the interim deal to allow ships to pass through the strait without paying charges for 60 days. But Tehran has insisted it must control the vessels’ routes and vowed to later charge fees for passage. That would upend decades of practice in the waterway. The ships attacked Tuesday all appeared to be using a route close to Oman’s shore, rather than one ordered by Tehran.
The U.S. and many Gulf Arab states say they will not agree to Iran charging for passage through the strait.
Elsewhere, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Falah al-Zaidi and other Iranian and Iraqi officials attended funeral ceremonies for Khamenei on Wednesday in the Iraqi city of Najaf.
Khamenei’s body will be returned to Iran to be buried Thursday at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, his birthplace.
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Kim reported from Ankara, Turkey. Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran; Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Najaf, Iraq; and Collin Binkley in Washington contributed.
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