Trump vows – President Donald Trump said the U.S. would strike Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT” and later move to “assume total control” of Iran’s oil and gas sectors, as Washington and Tehran traded strikes for a second day and negotiations for a ceasefire appeared to stall.
A mural of a U.S. aircraft carrier under missile attack stood in downtown Tehran on June 8, but it was President Donald Trump’s message—posted in the middle of a new round of fighting—that seemed to sharpen the moment into something more immediate.
On Thursday, Trump warned the U.S. would hit Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT,” adding that the U.S. would in the “not too distant future” “assume total control” of Iran’s oil and gas industries. including the key Kharg Island. The threat landed after another day of reciprocal strikes that pushed the Middle East closer to the resumption of a full-scale war.
The American attack appeared more intense and wider than the day before, continuing into Thursday morning in Iran. Iran released little information about the damage but said it fired back at Kuwait. Bahrain and Jordan—claims it said echoed what it had done a day earlier. The U.S. military, for its part, kept pressing its pressure campaign at sea. It said it fired missiles to disable a tanker attempting to transport Iranian oil, even as the U.S. continued to enforce its blockade of Iranian ports.
That naval enforcement carried risks beyond the region. An Indian official said a U.S. strike on a different merchant ship earlier this week killed three Indian sailors. Central Command said Thursday its latest round of airstrikes came “in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression” and targeted “Iranian military surveillance capabilities. communication systems and air defense sites.” Central Command said the strikes ended just before sunrise Thursday in Iran. without elaborating on the damage.
Explosions from the attacks echoed around Iran’s capital, as well as Bandar Abbas and other southern areas along the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard later said sites hit included a manufacturing complex, a military barracks and a local Guard base outside of Tehran.
The fallout reached the Arab states hosting U.S. forces. Kuwait closed its airspace for several hours because of the attack, though it did not elaborate on any damage. Jordan said it intercepted 20 Iranian missiles fired toward an area home to a base hosting U.S. troops, and said no one was hurt. Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said an 11-year-old girl was hurt and that cars and homes were damaged by debris from interceptions.
Across the border, Israel issued warnings to residents in its north to seek shelter after the detection of suspected incoming fire from Lebanon, where Israel is fighting the Iran-allied Hezbollah militant group.
Diplomacy remained part of the story, but the U.S. and Iran’s language about ceasefire prospects pointed in different directions. Efforts to negotiate an end to the war appeared stuck. with Trump warning earlier that Tehran would “pay the price” for stalled negotiations. Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday that the U.S. attacks had “effectively rendered the ceasefire … meaningless,” without saying it was abandoning it.
One reason negotiations have been so hard to move off their positions is the choke point both sides keep using. Central to the diplomatic talks is Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz. an effective lever that has disrupted global energy supplies. driven up fuel prices. and made food and other basics more expensive well beyond the region.
Iran announced Thursday that the strait was closed, though it was unclear what that meant. In practice. Iran has severely restricted traffic through the waterway since early in the war. and only a trickle of ships has gotten through. Central Command disputed Iran’s claim. Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. has undertaken a secret mission in recent weeks to sneak ships through the passage.
Trump tied that claim to a stated result: he said more than 100 million barrels of oil have evaded Iran’s chokehold. There was no immediate confirmation of that figure, which equals roughly five days of oil shipments through the waterway before the war began.
Still, the seas remain dangerous for mariners. Central Command said it struck a Guinea-Bissau-flagged tanker attempting to evade the American blockade with a shipment of Iranian oil. It said Hellfire missiles were launched to disable the M/T Jalveer late Wednesday after the ship’s crew failed to obey U.S. orders. Central Command said it is the ninth merchant vessel the U.S. military says it has disabled since imposing the blockade in mid-April in waters off Iran. and that two of those ships came under U.S. fire earlier this week.
The deadly toll of those operations has now been under sharper scrutiny. Indian Ports. Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal announced Thursday on X that three Indian sailors were killed when American forces struck the Palau-flagged M/T Settebello on Tuesday. The mariners had initially been reported missing. Central Command said American forces issued warnings before firing on the ship. which it accused of trying to evade the blockade.
The International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency, condemned the attack. India’s foreign ministry summoned a senior U.S. diplomat to convey its “deepest concerns” over the attack and formally protest the strike, spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
Behind the tactical fight—airstrikes over Iranian territory, missiles at sea, interceptions in Gulf skies—two deeper disputes remain locked. The U.S. wants Iran to give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, described as a short technical step from weapons-grade levels. Iran refuses and demands relief from sanctions. Iran also wants the release of frozen assets even before a final agreement is in place, and Trump rejected that.
There is also a war-within-the-war problem. Iran has insisted that any deal to end the fighting must also end fighting between its ally Hezbollah and Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears intent on pursuing his goal of destroying the militant group.
Even as diplomats tried to keep channels open, the latest message from Tehran and Washington left little room for optimism. A Qatari diplomatic delegation. negotiating in coordination with the U.S. left Tehran on Thursday morning after holding talks. according to an official with knowledge of the team who spoke on condition of anonymity. Pakistan expressed deep concern over rising tensions and urged both Iran and the U.S. to adhere to the ceasefire.
The immediate picture now is stark: strikes traded for a second day, civilian injuries reported in Bahrain, interceptions across Jordan, and a message from the White House that frames the next hours as a fresh escalation—right as diplomacy over what comes next appears to be slipping.
United States politics Donald Trump Iran Kharg Island Strait of Hormuz Central Command blockade Iran nuclear program Hezbollah Israel Kuwait Jordan Bahrain India International Maritime Organization ceasefire sanctions