After Trump's threat, the attacks began: the US Army bombs Iran, in the middle of the night / “We will negotiate with bombs”

The United States launched a new series of bombings on several targets in Iran during the night from Wednesday to Thursday, the US military confirmed, hours after President Donald Trump promised more attacks if a peace agreement is not reached, writes Reuters.

“The forces of the United States military command for the Middle East (CENTCOM, no) launched today, at 17:15 (Washington time), new defensive strikes against several targets in Iran. The strikes are a response to the unjustified and persistent aggression of Iran,” announced the US military's Central Command, in a statement published on the X social network, stating that the attacks began after midnight in Tehran.

Iran's top military command responded to the US attacks by warning that it would fire on any ship trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely blocked for months. The Iranian press also wrote that two ships were attacked.

The U.S. military's overnight attacks are the latest development in an intensifying exchange of fire that threatens to reignite a full-scale war that was halted in early April when the two sides agreed to a fragile truce.

Iranian news agencies reported explosions in several cities in southern Iran, including Sirik, Kangan, Bandar Abbas and Minab.

Trump / Hegseth warning: “We will negotiate with bombs”

Trump told reporters, earlier on Wednesday, at the White House: “We attacked them very hard yesterday, we are resuming the bombing. (…) We will attack them, we will attack them very hard.”

“We have the right to do it (to attack, no). You already know, they shot down (the Apache helicopter, no) an incredible machine, really incredible. And initially they said they didn't do it, but then they admitted,” the US president said of the Apache AH-64 helicopter, whose crew of two soldiers was rescued.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth portrayed the move as an effort to force Iran into a deal to end the conflict, telling reporters during a visit to Central Command in Florida that the strikes “will advance our military interests and also strengthen our diplomatic position.”

“We're going to hit them hard tonight and hopefully Iran will make a wise decision,” the Pentagon chief said.

“If we have to negotiate with bombs, we will negotiate with bombs,” Hegseth added.

The United States and Iran have exchanged blows several times since the provisional truce took effect, even as negotiators have tried unsuccessfully to end the war, which is already three months old.

Trump has repeatedly said a deal is imminent, although there has been no sign of progress, while also threatening to resume bombing.

On Tuesday, the US military targeted air defense systems and radar stations around the Strait of Hormuz after a US Apache AH-64 attack helicopter was shot down near the strategic waterway on Monday. Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on US bases in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain. A US official said there was no significant damage.

Iran accused the US of hitting reservoirs supplying drinking water to 10 villages and violating international law.

“This is not about collateral damage – it is a calculated war crime and a flagrant violation of human rights,” said Tehran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghei.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Trump, who has also threatened after the outbreak of the Middle East war to destroy Iran's civilian infrastructure, did not specify whether future attacks would target power plants and bridges.

The chairman of Iran's parliament's national security committee, Ebrahim Azizi, warned in response that “the war will not be limited to this region.”

Despite the bellicose tone of both sides, there were signs that diplomatic efforts were continuing.

A delegation from Qatar, which has mediated between the United States and Iran, landed in Tehran on Wednesday to discuss the latest developments, Iranian state media reported.

Trump and the secret military mission

The war has killed thousands of people so far and disrupted about a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas supplies, causing prices to skyrocket. Iran blocked traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, while the US imposed and maintained its own blockade of Iranian ports.

The conflict, meanwhile, has become a political headache for the White House, with opinion polls showing Trump's popularity slipping amid voter dissatisfaction with high fuel prices, particularly gasoline. Some Republicans have expressed concern that the fact that the war has become highly unpopular could cost the Republican Party control of Congress in November's midterm elections.

Oil prices rose nearly $3 following Trump's threat to escalate the conflict, reaching $94 a barrel.

Trump, meanwhile, claimed that ships carrying 100 million barrels of oil defied Iran by crossing the Strait of Hormuz as part of a secret military mission. The White House leader stated that oil prices would be much higher without this effort.

Hegseth, for his part, said the ships transited the strait “in the middle of the night, under the protection of the United States, in a way that Iran cannot stop, because it cannot see them.”

In other news, the US military announced that it had detained an oil tanker carrying Iranian crude in the Gulf of Oman for the second day in a row on Tuesday.

Fighting in the parallel war continues

Fighting in the parallel war between Israel and the Iran-backed Shiite group Hezbollah continued in Lebanon. Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 13 people on Wednesday, Lebanese security sources said, as Hezbollah claimed further attacks against Israeli forces.

Tehran's demands include an end to Israel's strikes on Lebanon, the lifting of sanctions against Iran, the release of billions of dollars in frozen assets and recognition of its control of the Straits.

Trump says Iran must end restrictions on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. He also says that any peace deal must guarantee that Iran cannot develop a nuclear weapon.

Iran has repeatedly denied any such ambition.

The 35-nation Board of Governors of the UN nuclear watchdog on Wednesday adopted a US-backed resolution calling on Iran to declare its remaining stockpiles of enriched uranium and allow inspectors to inspect them. Tehran described the resolution as “political”.