US launches fresh strikes on Iran’s 90 military targets, Tehran fires back at 3 Gulf Arab states
The United States said the latest round of attacks were carried out in response to Tuesday's assault on three cargo ships transiting the strait.
Even as the United States military launched another round of strikes against Iran, US President Donald Trump appears to have left some room for diplomacy.
The US and Iran have been attacking each other since Tuesday when American forces struck several Iranian military targets.
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In response, Iran also launched drone and missile strikes on US targets in Bahrain and Qatar.
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Trump has described the latest attacks as retaliation for Iranian strikes on three commercial vessels at the start of this week.
Trump, who has declared that the ceasefire agreement with Iran is “over, Wednesday accused Iran of “lying and cheating” and said that the US has a “score to settle”.
He called Iranian leaders “scum and sick” people, adding that dealing with them is “waste of time”.
After the latest strikes, Trump issued a fresh warning to Iran, saying next US response will be far more worse. However, he also left the room open for diplomacy.
“If it happens again, it will get much worse!” he wrote in a social media post, suggesting that more US strikes are unlikely if Iran doesn’t target vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One while returning to Washington from the NATO summit, Trump said Iran had contacted the United States.
“They want to make a deal so badly,” he said. “I don’t know that they’re going to honour the deal.”
The exchange of attacks between the US and Iran came weeks after both countries signed a 14-point Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), under which they agreed to halt fighting on all fronts, including Lebanon, and negotiate a permanent end to the war over a 60-day period.
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