The United States launched a second round of strikes on Iranian territory early Thursday and Iran answered with missile and drone attacks on American bases in three Gulf countries, as Tehran declared that the ceasefire reached in April had been 'effectively rendered meaningless.' The exchange marks the most serious escalation since the two sides halted attacks earlier this week, and leaves the diplomatic track in tatters less than 48 hours after President Trump said a deal was close.
US Central Command described Wednesday evening's opening salvo, which began around 5:15 p.m. Eastern time, as 'self-defense strikes' against Iranian military surveillance, communications and air-defense sites. Nearly 20 targets were hit, including ammunition depots and command centers, with 49 Tomahawk cruise missiles striking within 40 miles of Tehran. A second wave of American strikes followed in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Iran's retaliation came before dawn Thursday local time. Twelve ballistic missiles were fired at Al-Azraq Air Base in Jordan, while drones targeted the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain and Ali Al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait. Officials said nearly all incoming weapons were intercepted; an 11-year-old girl in Bahrain was injured by falling drone debris, and Bahrain's interior ministry activated emergency air-raid sirens across the island. No casualties were reported at the bases in Jordan or Kuwait.
Iran's foreign ministry said the American strikes had rendered the April 8 ceasefire meaningless and announced that the Strait of Hormuz was closed 'to any type of vessel.' Central Command disputed the closure claim, saying commercial ships were continuing to transit the waterway, and noted that the first oil tanker bound for Europe since March had passed through the strait.
President Trump cast the strikes as a negotiating tactic. 'We were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along,' he said Wednesday. 'If we need to negotiate with bombs, we'll negotiate with bombs.' He warned that future targets could include 'power plants and bridges.' Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that 'Central Command will be busy tonight.'
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei accused Washington of 'damaging this diplomatic process,' a reference to the indirect talks that Qatari negotiators carried to Tehran on Wednesday. Pakistan has also continued its mediation efforts despite the renewed fighting.
The trigger for the latest spiral was Monday's downing of a US Army Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said an Iranian attack drone became lodged inside the aircraft before its pilots brought it down; both crew members were rescued at sea by an unmanned surface vessel in the first rescue of its kind.
The escalation has spilled into the global economy. American forces have disabled two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman this week for attempting to break the US blockade on Iranian crude exports, and three Indian mariners died in one of those strikes, prompting a formal protest from New Delhi. Oil prices swung around $90 a barrel on Thursday, and the European Central Bank raised interest rates for the first time in three years, citing war-driven energy inflation.