US launches new Iran strikes as Trump threatens wider attacks

The United States (US) launched a new wave of strikes against Iran on Wednesday, as President Donald Trump warned he could widen attacks unless the Islamic republic returned to talks.

US Central Command said the strikes began at 1900 GMT and targeted Iranian military capabilities used to ‘threaten’ vessels freely transiting the vital waterway.

The US military also said one of its aircraft fired on and disabled an empty oil tanker that was trying to break the naval blockade of Iran’s ports.

Central Command said the Curacao-flagged M/T Belma was stopped after the aircraft fired Hellfire missiles into the ship’s smokestack. “The ship is no longer transiting to Iran,” it said on X.

Iranian state media reported explosions in several cities, including Bandar Abbas, Rask and Chabahar. Earlier reports also cited blasts around southern sites including Qeshm and Bandar Imam Khomeini, while state media later said fresh US strikes hit Bushehr, home to Iran’s only civilian nuclear plant.

Nearly a month after Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the Middle East war, the two foes have resumed fighting across the region.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they targeted the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, where air sirens rang out as attacks against civilian targets were intercepted, while Jordan’s armed forces said they had downed three missiles from the Islamic republic.

Read more: Iran FM visits Qatar days after missile attack

In Iraq, Kurdish forces said the US-led coalition downed eight explosive-laden drones over Erbil, the capital of the northern Kurdistan region, where AFP journalists heard explosions and saw smoke near the US consulate. No casualties were reported.

“Next week it gets really bad for them,” Trump told Fox News, threatening to hit power plants and bridges unless Tehran returns to the negotiating table.

Despite renewed hostilities, mediated talks between the two sides have not formally ended.

But Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that “a memorandum of understanding only has meaning when its clauses are valid and being implemented.”

“If Iran is not to derive any benefit from the memorandum of understanding, we have no reason to adhere,” he said in a statement.