US Strikes Iran for a Second Night as Ceasefire Collapses
American forces hit more than 90 Iranian military targets overnight — a second consecutive night of strikes on air defences, naval assets and missile stores — after President Trump declared last month’s ceasefire “over”. Two days of bombing have killed at least 14 Iranians and wounded 78, Tehran’s health ministry said. Aboard Air Force One, Trump was unrepentant: “We just hit them very hard… I say we hit them 20 to 1”, warning that every Iranian attack would be answered twentyfold.
The trigger was Iran’s strikes on three commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, and the American stated aim is to “degrade Iran’s ability to attack shipping” there — but the rhetoric has run well past that. Trump has floated reimposing a naval blockade, striking Iran’s power and water plants, and even seizing Kharg Island, the terminal that handles most of Iran’s oil exports; the last would likely require ground troops. The mid-June memorandum that opened a sixty-day negotiating window is, on his own account, finished, though he says he does not want full-scale war. Watch the oil price, the safety of Gulf shipping lanes, and whether any channel to de-escalation survives the funeral week.