US launches fresh strikes on Iran, Trump warns of stronger military action

Washington: The United States launched a fresh round of strikes against multiple targets in Iran, with President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth warning Tehran that military pressure would intensify unless it agreed to a nuclear deal with Washington.

The latest operation began at 5:15 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, when US Central Command (CENTCOM) launched what it described as additional self-defence strikes against multiple targets in Iran at the direction of President Trump.

“Central Command will be busy tonight because President Trump said we will be hitting Iran hard, and we will be,” Hegseth told reporters at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida after meeting CENTCOM commanders. “Iran has a chance to make a good deal, a great deal to codify what they said they’ve been willing to do, and they haven’t been willing to do it.”

At the White House, Trump said Iran had failed to follow through on negotiations despite months of talks.

“I’ve been working with Iran for a number of months, and they should sign the deal,” Trump said. “It’s a good deal. It doesn’t give them the right to have a nuclear weapon. In fact, it totally prohibits them from ever having a nuclear weapon.”

The renewed strikes came after Iran shot down a US Army AH-64 Apache helicopter near Oman on Monday. Trump said the helicopter crew had been rescued safely but vowed continued military action.

“We hit them hard yesterday, and we’re gonna hit them again hard today,” he said. “We’ll see what happens with the deal. We were really close to a deal. But they keep tapping us along. They keep playing us for suckers.”

CENTCOM said the strikes were launched in response to “Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression”. Earlier in the day, the command also announced that US forces had disabled another tanker attempting to transport Iranian oil in violation of an American-led blockade.

According to CENTCOM, a US aircraft fired precision munitions into the engine room of the Palau-flagged tanker M/T Settebello after its crew repeatedly failed to comply with instructions.

Hegseth said military operations around the Strait of Hormuz remained central to US strategy. He claimed that ‘Project Freedom’ had enabled more than 100 million barrels of oil to transit safely through the waterway under American protection.

“The United States of America controls the Strait of Hormuz,” Hegseth said. “We’re able to bring oil in and out and other things with partners and have done so now for weeks and weeks in ways the Iranians don’t want to acknowledge.”

The Pentagon chief said CENTCOM had significantly weakened Iran’s military capabilities and warned that additional strikes could follow.

“Iran has an opportunity to make a deal,” he said. “President Trump is a deal maker, the best in the world. He’s prepared to make that deal. Iran would be wise to take it.”

Trump echoed that message, saying military action and diplomacy were being pursued simultaneously.

“Very simply, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they won’t,” he said. “All they have to do is they have to start signing a paper.”

IANS