Iran is set to close the Strait of Hormuz again in response to the latest US strikes on the Islamic Republic, with Tehran vowing to attack two targets for every one target America hits, according to a new report.
After President Trump announced Wednesday that the cease-fire with Iran was over, Tehran warned the president from making good on his renewed threats to attack Iran following tit-for-tat strikes on Tuesday.
“Trump will gain nothing from these recent threats, but he will certainly lose both the Strait of Hormuz and the negotiations over a final agreement,” a source close to Tehran told Iran’s Press TV.
Iran’s military claimed it hit 85 military targets in the Middle East overnight as an initial response to America’s attack on the Islamic Republic’s coastal assets near the Strait of Hormuz.
The US strikes were in retaliation against Iran’s attacks on three ships trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz without its permission, with Tehran asserting that it maintains full control over the oil choke point as per the memorandum of understanding.
With the aggression renewed, traffic along the Strait of Hormuz has fallen to a near halt, with only a handful of ships daring to cross on Wednesday.
The key trade route, which saw more than 130 ships cross daily before the war, had seen 108 ships cross the strait during the holiday weekend, according to maritime tracker Kpler.
As tensions remain high, Iranian officials dared the US to carry out more attacks against the Islamic Republic and try to take the Kharg Island oil hub, warning that such moves would result in American casualties.
“Come—we are waiting for you—and we promise that not a single American soldier will return alive,” Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesperson for the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee wrote on X.
Ali Akbar Velayati, Iran’s former foreign affairs minister, warned that Tehran “has its finger on the trigger” and will not “remain silent” under any provocation or humiliation.
Despite the repeated threats, Trump maintained that all-out war would not reignite because the US will always be able to hit Iran harder.
“I don’t think it’s going to start again. I think it’s going to go very quickly,” he told reporters in Ankara.
“They hit a couple of ships, and so we hit them much harder. When they hit, we hit 10 times harder, you know. We hit much harder than they do,” he added.
“I think anything that happens is going to be over very quickly, and we’ll only … make it safer, including for oil; oil is going to be very free, very easy, and easy, and it’s going to happen very fast,” he said.
The renewed fighting leads the Iran conflict into its fifth month after the president initially claimed it would only last a few weeks.
