Updates with details throughout, including the start of the attacks
The US launched a new, broader wave of attacks on Iranian targets for the second consecutive day, prompting Tehran to say it will prevent all ships from passing through Hormuz in retaliation.
US forces began launching additional "self-defense" strikes at targets across Iran at 5:15pm ET (21:15 GMT) on Wednesday, said the US Central Command (Centcom), which oversees the Middle East-based US forces.
Trump previewed the attack by saying earlier in the day that Iran will "have to pay the price" for taking too long to reach a peace deal, marking a clear shift in tone from recent weeks when he had talked up progress towards an agreement.
The latest US attack followed an exchange of fire between the US and Iranian forces a day earlier, which involved US strikes against Iranian air defense targets around the strait of Hormuz and Iranian attacks on US military bases in Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain.
The flare up in the US-Iran conflict follows claims by Washington and Tehran that they are enabling the transit of tankers and other vessels through the strait of Hormuz, on their own terms.
The Iranian military declared Hormuz closed to all navigation following the latest US attack, Iranian news agency Tasnim, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said in the early hours Thursday Tehran time.
"We're going to be attacking them and attacking them very hard," Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday before Centcom launched the latest attack. "Based on the helicopter, I guess we have the right to do that," Trump said, referring to a US helicopter patrolling the strait of Hormuz that went down due to Iranian fire earlier this week.
The attacks "that will happen tonight will be strong and they will be clear", defense secretary Pete Hegseth said before the strikes commenced.
July Nymex WTI rose by $1.83/bl to $90.03/bl on Wednesday while August Ice Brent rose by $1.65/bl to $93.10/bl, following the flare up in the US-Iran confrontation.
Trump earlier on Wednesday told Fox News that he "may order new strikes against the Iranian regime", potentially targeting "Iranian power plants and bridges", according to the news network's account of the interview, which the White House confirmed.
Trump repeatedly threatened strikes against Iranian power and civilian infrastructure during the high intensity phase of the conflict in March and April. The US and Iran reach a ceasefire agreement on 8 April and extended it indefinitely later that month. But low-intensity fighting between US and Iranian forces has flared up repeatedly since late May.
Trump's remarks mark a clear break from his recent messaging. Earlier this week, Trump said negotiations with Iran were ongoing and could yield results within days.
Trump claimed for months that Iran's military capacity had been "obliterated", but he attributed Iran's apparent ability to target US military bases and equipment in the Middle East to Tehran's partial restoration of its defense capabilities. He added that recent US strikes "took out about 55pc of what they were even able to rebuild."
