US Strikes Iran Again as Trump Says Tehran Must 'Pay the Price'

The US and Iran edged closer to open conflict overnight as Washington launched another round of strikes and Tehran claimed to hit back, the New York Times reports. US Central Command said the attack began Wednesday at 5:15pm ET (12:45am Thursday in Iran), with Tomahawk missiles and jets targeting sites inside Iran; explosions were reported near the Strait of Hormuz and in several southern cities. President Trump told Fox News the US fired 49 Tomahawks and said the assault would pause briefly but resume Thursday night if Iran did not meet US demands in negotiations. He reportedly threatened to "bomb the s---" out of Iran if a deal isn't signed and said, per the Hill, that Iran "will have to pay the price" for the stalled talks.

Iran said it answered with two waves of attacks on US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain and declared the Strait of Hormuz closed to all traffic, a claim US officials rejected. The exchange followed strikes a day earlier tied to the downing of a US Apache helicopter near the strait. Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth framed the latest operation as leverage to force a peace deal on US terms, and the AP reports it "appeared more intense and wider" than the prior day's strikes. The pattern of attacks has further eroded a two-month-old ceasefire, which UN Secretary-General António Guterres described Wednesday as "more like a lesser-fire" thanks to the "escalating attacks and rhetoric."