Editor’s note: This is a developing story.
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.
In response, Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz closed, and Iranian state media said two commercial vessels attempting to transit had been targeted. 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.
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Trump had signaled earlier in the day that the strikes were coming. “We hit them hard yesterday, and we’re going to hit them again hard today, in case you don’t turn on your television set,” Trump said in the Oval Office. Trump 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, and that all are located 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 might 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.
