The United States Army has again attacked positions in Iran this Wednesday for the second consecutive day, in a context of growing tension in the Strait of Hormuz, and just a few hours after the American president, Donald Trump, threatened new military operations from the NATO summit held in Ankara, the capital of Turkey.
"By order of the Commander in Chief, U.S. Central Command forces have begun to conduct additional attacks against Iran with the aim of further degrading its ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz," the U.S. Army's Central Command (CENTCOM) reported.
The military command has framed these bombings within "the recent unjustified aggressions against merchant ships and their civilian crews" attributed to Iran amid the dispute over control of the Strait of Hormuz, emphasizing that these ships "were navigating freely through this strategically important international waterway."
In a message disseminated on social media, Trump referred to the orders given against Iran, insisting that it is "retaliation for the bombing of ships perpetrated yesterday by Iran."
"If it happens again, the response will be much stronger," he warned, after sharing several videos and images of alleged targets hit in Iranian territory on his platform.
The Iranian news agency Mehr has reported explosions in the port city of Bandar Abbas, located on the coast of the Strait of Hormuz, where defense systems were reportedly activated against the attacks. It also indicated that the port facilities and the maritime control tower of Chabahar were being attacked, while fighter jet activity was registered over Isfahan.
Moments later, the same outlet reported new explosions in the vicinity of Bushehr, a town in southwestern Iran where the nuclear power plant of the same name is located, as well as in Iranshahr, in the province of Sistan and Baluchestan.
For its part, Iranian state television IRIB indicated that several projectiles had impacted various islands in the strait, while two explosions were heard in the city of Jask, also on the coast of Hormozgan province.
Subsequently, the governor of Iranshahr confirmed, in statements collected by IRIB, the death of a firefighter in the framework of the attacks against the city's airport facilities.
Following this new round of bombings, Mohsen Rezai, military advisor to the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Mojtaba Jamenei, has spoken out, warning that "the aggressor enemy and its accomplices will be severely punished".
"Every time they achieve nothing by force, they rush to negotiate and reach an agreement, and as soon as they achieve it, they dedicate themselves to destroying it," Rezai stated in a message on social media, adding that, in his opinion, "in the political logic of the United States, negotiation is nothing more than a bridge to be crossed" and "not a lasting commitment".
It is the second consecutive night of US attacks on Iranian territory, following the bombings of the previous dawn against more than 80 targets with precision munitions. In response, Iran's Revolutionary Guard claimed to have "destroyed" 85 US military installations in Bahrain and Kuwait, in addition to shooting down an "enemy" MQ-9 drone, in retaliation for the offensive.
Trump had already issued a warning from Ankara, where he met with NATO partners, about the possibility of new attacks on a day when he also declared the ceasefire and the memorandum of understanding between the two countries broken, leaving negotiations at a standstill. "I'm going to give you a little warning: we're going to hit them hard tonight," declared the White House tenant alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the summit.