US forces launched a new wave of attacks on Iran after President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the US-Iran ceasefire was "over".
The air strikes, for a second night in a row, are meant to retaliate against Iranian attacks earlier this week on three commercial vessels attempting passage through the strait of Hormuz, the US Central Command (Centcom), which oversees the Middle East-based US forces, said at 5:15pm ET on Wednesday.
Centcom carried out strikes on Iranian defense targets late on Tuesday, and Iranian forces retaliated with drone and missile attacks at US military installations in the Mideast Gulf. Iran's response so far has spared its neighbors' energy infrastructure.
"As far as I'm concerned, it's over," Trump said on Wednesday of the ceasefire established by the US-Iran interim deal he signed on 18 June. Trump, in remarks at a Nato summit in Turkey, previewed the forthcoming attacks and said he may re-establish the US naval blockade that was removed last month.
The US will continue strikes on Iranian military targets until Tehran agrees to fully reopen the strait of Hormuz to navigation and stops attacking vessels passing through it, US vice president JD Vance said on Wednesday.
Trump, who said last month that the US would be unable to reopen Hormuz by military means alone, said he was no longer willing to negotiate with Iran. "I'm not sure I want to make a deal with them," Trump told reporters at the conclusion of the Nato summit. "Let's just finish the job," he said.
Vance, who led the US diplomacy with Iran over sanctions relief and a ceasefire in Lebanon, on Wednesday described the interim US-Iran deal as hinging on the status of navigation through Hormuz.
"The basic deal that we cut was, 'we'll lift our blockade if you stop shooting at ships,'" Vance told reporters during a visit to Wisconsin.
"The strait of Hormuz is going to be open," Vance said. "That means oil and gas is going to flow to the American people." If Iran continues attacking ships in Hormuz, there will be a US military response, Vance said.
The resumption of intense clashes between the US and Iranian militaries sent oil prices higher. August Nymex WTI rose by $3.08/bl to settle at $73.52/bl on Wednesday.
Trump has touted the decline in crude futures since the US-Iran interim deal on 18 June, but he has expressed frustration at the slower pace of decline in US retail fuel prices. Trump has ordered federal prosecutors to begin looking into whether consumers were being "gouged" by oil companies, and his administration has invited state officials to join the federal probe.
Tehran is talking tough too
Tehran anticipated the resumption of US attacks and threatened to respond strongly to them. Tehran also vowed to fully close navigation through Hormuz.
The 18 June deal called for the strait of Hormuz to fully reopen to commercial traffic, and for Tehran to receive limited sanctions relief in return. But key terms began to unravel well ahead of the 21 August deadline that the countries set to thrash out the final details of a peace agreement, including the fate of Iran's nuclear program.
Tehran has been keen to preserve its control over the strait of Hormuz and has been attacking ships crossing close to the coast of Oman, in a section of the strait where the US and the International Maritime Organization have encouraged transits.
The US on Tuesday revoked authorization to allow purchases of Iranian crude, refined products and petrochemicals.
The US-Iran clashes since Tuesday followed an increase in hostile rhetoric from both countries, after Trump on 5 July said that the US passed on a chance to assassinate the Iranian leadership during the belated funeral for former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a US strike on 28 February.
"We said, 'Go and do your funeral stuff,'" Trump said on Wednesday. "And instead of that, they start shooting rockets at ships yesterday."
