The renewed fighting comes after President Donald Trump had appeared to pivot toward trying to bend Iran to his will through economic sanctions.
“If the failed Nation of Iran retaliates for this very justified attack, they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level, but it will not be the biggest attack of them all, that is waiting in the wings,” Trump warned on social media after U.S. Central Command announced the latest strikes.
Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff and its joint military command, however, said the armed forces would deliver what they described as “crushing and devastating blows” against the United States.
Iranian state television said the U.S. struck a fishmeal factory on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz as well as several civilian targets in Hormozgan province. It said a fishing pier and a Ports and Maritime Organization tower in Sirik were among the sites hit by U.S. forces.
In the previous strikes on Sunday, U.S. Central Command said its forces struck Iranian rocket launchers that would send sea mines into the strait.
Iran responded to Sunday's attacks by launching missiles at U.S. sites in Jordan, which were intercepted, while United Arab Emirates said it stopped an Iranian drone over its waters. President Donald Trump acknowledged Monday that more strikes might be necessary.
The American military in recent days has cast the renewed fighting as limited, though Trump had acknowledged Monday that more strikes might be necessary.
U.S. Central Command said Monday on X that its attacks on Iranian targets on Sunday were narrowly focused on preventing Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard forces from placing new mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
“U.S. forces took limited, precise action against IRGC minelaying forces posing an imminent threat in the Strait of Hormuz,” U.S. Central Command said. “In essence, Iran created the threat and the U.S. military eliminated it to protect civilian mariners, commercial shipping, and the free flow of global commerce.”
