U.S. Attacks Iran for Second Consecutive Evening
The U.S. launched strikes against Iran on Wednesday for the second consecutive evening. Central Command (CENTCOM) said the strikes began at 5:15 PM U.S. Eastern Time and at around 9 PM announced they were completed.
In response, Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz closed, and the Iranian navy said it had targeted two commercial vessels attempting to transit. CENTCOM denied that the strait was closed, saying "ships are continuing to transit in and out."
President Donald Trump told Fox News the U.S. will bomb Iran on Thursday night as well if Tehran doesn't sign a U.S.-proposed deal. "We'll bomb the s— out of them tomorrow night," Trump said.
Iran launched retaliatory strikes against U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan, according to Iranian media.
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Trump had signaled earlier in the day that the U.S. strikes were coming. “We hit them hard yesterday, and we’re going to hit them again hard today,” Trump said in the Oval Office. He added that the U.S. and Iran had been close to striking a deal but “they keep tapping us along, they keep playing us for suckers.”
After the strikes began, a U.S. official told Barak Ravid of Axios that the targets include air defense systems, radars, and drone units in southern Iran. But the Trump administration has suggested it might strike civilian infrastructure. Earlier Wednesday, Trump told Fox News he was getting closer to striking Iran’s power plants and bridges, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told reporters that the Iranians could see "bombs dropping on key facilities in Iran from the United States of America.”
On Tuesday evening, the U.S. had launched what CENTCOM called "self-defense strikes" in response to the downing on Monday of an Army Apache helicopter.
