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The US military said Wednesday it began another round of strikes against Iran after President Donald Trump warned that Tehran would "pay the price" for stalled negotiations. The escalating attacks threatened to derail efforts to end the war. US Central Command said in a social media post that the military was striking "multiple targets in Iran," attacks that were "in response to Iran's unwarranted and continued aggression". The second day of American strikes came hours after Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan - all of which host US troops - came under Iranian fire. It was the third time this week that back-and-forth strikes have tested a two-month ceasefire. They also came a day after the US struck Iran following the crash of an Army helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz that Trump blamed on the Islamic Republic. Trump has urged Iran to sign a deal to end the war and suggested earlier this week that an agreement could be reached in a matter of days. Iranian media reported that explosions we
The US military said Tuesday that it carried out strikes on Iran following the crash of an Army helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz that President Donald Trump blamed on the Islamic Republic. Tehran vowed to respond. The strikes were "a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression", US Central Command said on social media. Iranian state media reported that explosions were heard on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping lane that Iran has effectively closed during the war, before saying the wave of American attacks in the south had "subsided". Trump said earlier in a social media post that Iran had shot down the aircraft while it was on patrol over the strait and declared that the US "must, of necessity, respond to this attack". Iran's top diplomat said foreign military forces near its territory "are at constant risk" and later vowed that there would be a response to the new US strikes. Iranian forces "will leave no attack or threat unanswered", Iranian
The US military said it shot down four Iranian drones that were launched toward the Strait of Hormuz on Friday and then struck some of the Islamic Republic's coastal surveillance radar sites in response, raising the risk to a shaky ceasefire as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on Iran. "The attack drones posed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic," US Central Command said on social media. The military is enforcing a blockade on Iranian ports in response to Tehran's chokehold on the crucial corridor for global oil and natural gas shipments, which has sent energy prices spiking and posed political problems for President Donald Trump's Republican Party ahead of the midterm congressional elections. US Central Command said it hit the radar sites, including an island in the strait, "to defend against further attacks." It was the latest in back-and-forth attacks that have strained the tenuous ceasefire in the war and efforts to reach a deal to extend that truce. Earl
The US military said Monday it was targeting Iranian radar and drone control sites in Iran after Tehran shot down an American MQ-1 Predator drone this weekend. Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency said that US forces had targeted a telecommunications tower on an island. The Guard said it responded with an attack without saying where.
The US military said it carried out another strike on Friday on a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three men in the third attack this week and pushing the overall death toll above 200 people. US Southern Command announced the latest strike in the monthslong campaign against alleged drug boats traversing the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific with its usual language that the vessel was "engaged in narco-trafficking operations" and operated by a designated terrorist organisation. It provided no evidence. While the military's social media announcements always include video of the attacks, this appears to be the first with the footage in colour instead of black and white. The video shows a small vessel floating in the ocean before it is hit and engulfed in a fireball. It cuts to what could be the boat in flames, surrounded by a large plume of parcels or some other objects spread around it in the water. The attack puts the death toll at 202 people from
The US military said it carried out "self-defence" strikes in southern Iran, including on missile launch sites and boats placing mines, even as President Donald Trump said on social media that negotiations were "proceeding nicely". The strikes were done "to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces", but the military was "using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire", Capt. Tim Hawkins, US Central Command spokesman, said in a statement on Monday. Further details were not immediately available, including more specifics on the threats from Iran and what this means for negotiations. Earlier, Trump said any agreement to end the Iran war should include a requirement for several additional countries, including Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, to join the Abraham Accords, the US-brokered agreements from Trump's first term aimed at normalising relations with Israel. The proposal came as the emerging Iran deal faced criticism from fellow Republicans who favour a harder line on Iran,
The US military conducted a rapid response exercise involving Marines and military aircraft in Venezuela's capital Saturday, over four months after the ouster of then-President Nicolas Maduro. Two Marine Corps Osprey aircraft, which have characteristics of both a helicopter and a fixed-wing airplane, flew over the recently reopened US Embassy in Caracas. They landed in the parking lot with the downdraft blowing tree branches. Forces then descended from the aircraft. "Ensuring the military's rapid response capability is a key component of mission readiness, both here in Venezuela and around the world," the embassy said on Instagram. Venezuela's government had announced the drill earlier this week. Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said the US would conduct the exercise to prepare "in the event of medical emergencies or catastrophic emergencies." The drill comes almost two months after the US formally reopened its embassy in Caracas. The reopening followed the restoration of full diplomatic
Iran's grip on the Strait of Hormuz is throttling the world's energy supplies and inflicting global economic pain, but the struggles of the Islamic Republic's own economy are testing its ability to withstand the war and defy Washington's demands. Iranians have been hit by spiralling prices for food, medicine and other goods. At the same time, the country has seen mass job losses and business closures caused by strike damage to key industries and the government's monthslong shutdown of the internet. The economic cost of the war and the US naval blockade "has been very substantial and unprecedented for Iran," said Hadi Kahalzadeh, an Iranian economist and research fellow at Brandeis University. But Iran has withstood decades of economic pressure and sanctions, and its capacity to adapt has not been dismantled, Kahalzadeh said. "Iran can probably avoid a complete economic collapse or total shortage of essential goods, but at a very high cost," he said. "The main cost will be passed to
The US military's latest strike on an alleged drug-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean killed two men Friday while leaving one survivor. Video posted on social media by US Southern Command shows a black, boat-shaped image before what appears to be an explosion, followed by a column of fire rising from the ocean. Southern Command said it "immediately notified the US Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivor." The White House announced Wednesday that President Donald Trump has signed off on a new US counterterrorism strategy that sets eliminating drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere as the administration's highest priority. The Trump administration's campaign of blowing up alleged drug-trafficking vessels in Latin American waters, including the eastern Pacific and the Caribbean Sea, has gone on since early September and killed at least 193 people in total. The military has not provided evidence that any of the vessels were carrying drugs. The .
The US military said it launched another strike on a boat accused of ferrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea, killing two persons. The Trump administration's campaign of blowing up alleged drug-trafficking vessels in Latin American waters has persisted since early September and killed at least 188 people in total. Other strikes have taken place in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Despite the Iran war, the series of strikes have ramped up again in recent weeks, showing that the administration's aggressive measures to stop what it calls "narcoterrorism" in the Western Hemisphere are not letting up. The military has not provided evidence that any of the vessels were carrying drugs. The attacks began as the US built up its largest military presence in the region in generations and came months ahead of the raid in January that captured then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. He was brought to New York to face drug trafficking charges and has pleaded not guilty. In the latest attack Monday, US .
US President Donald Trump said the US Navy will start guiding foreign stranded ships to safety through the Strait of Hormuz from Monday and warned Iran that any interference in the process would be dealt with forcefully. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said 'Project Freedom' was aimed at helping foreign ships that are locked up in the Strait of Hormuz as "innocent bystanders" and in no way involved in the developments in West Asia. Trump said several of these ships were running low on food, drinking water and everything else necessary for large-scale crews to stay onboard in a healthy and sanitary manner. At the same time, the US President said that his representatives were having positive discussions with Iran, which could lead to something "positive for all". The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow sea route between Oman and Iran that transports one-fifth of the global oil supplies, has been effectively closed since February 28, when the US and Israel launched the war with Iran. The U
The US military seized another tanker Thursday associated with smuggling Iranian oil. The US Defence Department said it seized the oil tanker Majestic X in the Indian Ocean. "We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate," the Defence Department said. The seizure comes after Iran attacked three cargo ships Wednesday in the Strait of Hormuz, capturing two of them. The Defence Department released footage of the seizure of the vessel, showing US troops on the deck of the vessel. Ship-tracking data showed the Majestic X in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia, roughly the same location as the oil tanker Tifani, earlier seized by American forces. It had been bound for Zhoushan, China.