Merchandise 1 of 4 Individuals drive close to a billboard depicting U.S. President Donald Trump on a constructing in Tehran, Iran, August 31, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia Information Company) by way of REUTERS
WASHINGTON/DUBAI, Sept 1 (Reuters) – The U.S. launched new air strikes on Iranian targets on Tuesday, quashing hopes that an trade of fireside final weekend won’t result in a wider renewal of hostilities.
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“Right this moment at 12 p.m. ET (1600 GMT), U.S. forces started hanging Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in Iran,” U.S. Central Command posted on X. “The strikes observe latest tried assaults by the IRGC in opposition to industrial delivery within the Strait of Hormuz and in opposition to American service members deployed to the area.”
Iran’s state broadcaster mentioned there had been studies of explosions on Iran’s Qeshm Island, on the northern facet of the strait.
The state-linked information company Nour Information mentioned there had been studies of explosions within the port metropolis of Bandar Abbas and in Chabahar, a port on the southern coast. The state information company IRNA additionally reported the sound of explosions in Jask and Sirik.
U.S. President Donald Trump posted on his social media channel that if Iran retaliated for the assault, “they are going to be hit once more at a a lot tougher and better degree”.
The Fars information company cited an IRGC spokesperson as saying the U.S. “will remorse its new assaults”.
SCALE OF RESUMPTION OF IRAN HOSTILITIES UNCLEAR
The U.S. Embassy in Qatar urged Individuals at present within the Center East to train “heightened vigilance and concentrate on potential flight cancellations, airspace closures, and journey disruptions”.
Though he warned of a U.S. response to the Iranian strikes, Trump additionally advised reporters on Monday that they didn’t sign a return to full-scale battle, and a senior Iranian supply advised Reuters they have been a “restricted and contained confrontation”.
However pledges by each side to answer additional assaults have highlighted how rapidly a battle that has more and more been fought by sanctions, blockades and financial strain may spill again into army motion.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had mentioned early on Tuesday at a regional summit in Kyrgyzstan that Tehran would reciprocate instantly if Washington honoured its commitments underneath a June Memorandum of Understanding that was supposed to halt the battle.
The MOU declared an finish to preventing that has now killed hundreds in Iran and Lebanon since U.S. and Israeli strikes started on February 28. However it additionally deferred lots of the most troublesome points and paved the best way for a broader 60-day negotiation interval — which handed with out additional settlement.
Iranian officers have proven no public signal since then of bowing to strain.
“If the enemy desires us to not export oil from the Persian Gulf, nobody will be capable of export oil,” Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf was quoted as saying by Iranian media.
International Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei advised a press convention in Tehran that Washington was “addicted to creating extreme calls for and has mistaken negotiations for dictating phrases”.
NEW U.S. ECONOMIC SANCTIONS LOOM
“So long as they act on this method, they’ll definitely get no end result aside from what they’ve achieved to this point,” he added, warning that Tehran would “use all our capabilities, whether or not on the battlefield or by our diplomatic equipment”.
Earlier than the most recent assaults, Bessent had mentioned Washington was prone to announce financial institution sanctions in opposition to Iran this week and subsequent, stepping up an try to “economically asphyxiate” Iran’s management after six months of battle.
At a G20 finance leaders’ assembly in Asheville, North Carolina, he mentioned the U.S. was additionally focusing on airline leasing firms and different entities that did enterprise with the IRGC.
“We now have zero tolerance. We’re going to economically asphyxiate this regime,” he mentioned.
Iran’s leaders have defied a long time of U.S. sanctions, lots of which have been aimed toward curbing Tehran’s oil revenues and acquisition of weapons elements.
The heightened tensions have renewed fears of oil provide disruptions from the world’s key crude-producing area.
“The tit-for-tat missile exchanges between the U.S. and Iran convey validation to those that imagine that even when not a ‘endlessly battle’, this battle will run and run,” mentioned PVM analyst John Evans.
Extra reporting by Dubai newsroom; Writing by Timothy Heritage and Kevin Liffey; Modifying by Gareth Jones
Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
