Donald Trump has threatened Iran with airstrikes against their bridges and suggested “other people” will launch a ground campaign for him.
As fighting in the region intensifies, the US president said he will hit Iran “very hard” in the coming days.
“Next week comes the bridges. We're going to knock out all their power plants. We'll knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate”, Trump told Fox News Tuesday evening, Washington time.
Trump also didn’t rule out a ground campaign, saying, “Sometimes you need a ground campaign, but we have other people that will do the ground campaign for us”.
American forces launched more strikes against Iran and reinstated their blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday.
US Central Command announced that the additional strikes were conducted to “continue degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”
But Trump U-turned on his plan to impose a 20 per cent fee on maritime traffic to guard the oil waterway.
The president wrote on Truth Social that trade and investment deals with the Gulf states would replace the fee for ships to pass through the channel.
Key Points
- Trump threatens airstrikes against bridges and suggests ground invasion
- US reimposes its blockade on Iranian ports
- Oil rises sharply after US-Iran hostilities flare again
- Iran retaliates over US strikes by attacking Bahrain and Kuwait: report
- Iran says Strait of Hormuz will remain shut until 'end of America's evils'
- Trump suggests 'other people' will launch a ground campaign for him in Iran
Iran says Strait of Hormuz will remain shut until 'end of America's evils'
06:55 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
Iran's Revolutionary Guard this morning said that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until what it described as "the end of America's evils".
The statement comes as the US military this morning reimposed a blockade on Iranian ports over Tehran's attacks on ships trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, sparking new strikes on nations hosting American forces as an interim deal to end the war further unraveled.
The Guard said they had targeted what they described as command-and-control, logistics, fuel and military equipment facilities belonging to the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, in response to the latest US strikes in the Strait of Hormuz.
They also said they had set fire to and destroyed what they described as a US logistics facility in Kuwait's Mina Abdullah and that their air force had struck what they described as a US base at Azraq in Jordan, targeting aircraft hangars.
They said some of the US attacks had been launched from bases on Jordanian territory.
Jordan says it intercepted ballistic missiles from Iran
06:40 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
Jordan’s air defences have intercepted at least three ballistic missiles allegedly fired from Iran during today's early hours, the military said.
It added that engineering teams secured several sites where debris fell and reaffirmed that it would respond to any violation or threat to Jordanian airspace.
US strikes wheat storage silo in Iran
06:25 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
US projectiles have hit a wheat storage silo in Hoveizeh County in Iran's western Khuzestan province, Fars News reported, citing the deputy governor of the province.
This alleged attack comes after president Donald Trump threatened to strike civilian infrastructure in Iran, including bridges and power plants.
Donald Trump is behaving like a pathetic pirate king in the Strait of Hormuz
06:12 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
What gives this modern-day Blackbeard, Captain TACO, the right to join the Iranians in holding the world’s energy supplies to ransom, asks Sean O’Grady
More here.
Trump is behaving like a pathetic pirate king in the Strait of Hormuz
Dubai to build new port to bypass Strait of Hormuz
05:43 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
Dubai is planning to build a new port and terminal to circumvent Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz.
Passage through the vital shipping route – through which one-fifth of the world’s oil passes – has been disrupted since US-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February.
Despite an interim agreement effectively opening up access to commercial vessels, a row has broken out over the interpretation of a clause relating to the waterway, sparking a resumption of hostilities between the US and Iran.
More here.
Dubai to build new port to bypass Strait of Hormuz as Iran continues attacks on ships
Iran's Guard say they have attacked US bases in Kuwait
05:15 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
Iran's Revolutionary Guard said they have attacked US military bases in Kuwait.
The statement comes as the US military said it completed an additional round of strikes against Iran at 10pm EST.
It said it hit “dozens of military targets near the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian coastal areas”.
US reimposes its blockade on Iranian ports
05:02 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
The US military this morning reimposed a blockade on Iranian ports over Tehran's attacks on ships trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, sparking new strikes on nations hosting American forces as an interim deal to end the war further unraveled.
The US first imposed the blockade in mid-April. Then we lifted it in mid-June, a day after signing the interim deal that set 60 days for negotiations over issues like Iran's nuclear program. Still, talks have stalled as fighting over the strait has intensified.
Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened this morning to halt all energy exports from the Middle East over the blockade."The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one," it said.
When US president Donald Trump announced the return of the blockade Monday, he also said he would impose a 20 per cent fee on ships passing through the strait. But he dropped the plan to collect fees hours before resuming the blockade, citing requests from allies in the Persian Gulf.
Watch: Trump threatens airstrikes against bridges and suggests ground invasion
04:44 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
Iran targets US Fifth Fleet facilities in Bahrain
04:27 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said this morning that it had targeted what it described as command-and-control, logistics, fuel and military equipment facilities belonging to the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.
This was in response to what it said were US actions in the Indian Ocean and efforts to control the Strait of Hormuz and restrict shipping routes.
The Guard warned that if Washington sought to block the region's oil and gas exports by controlling maritime routes, other export routes serving US and allied interests could also be closed, saying regional energy exports would be "for everyone or for no one".
Bahrain's home ministry this morning said air raid sirens were sounded and urged residents to remain calm and seek shelter.
Oil rises sharply after US-Iran hostilities flare again
04:21 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
Oil rose this morning as US president Donald Trump reimposed a naval blockade on all Iranian ports and Iran launched retaliatory strikes on US infrastructure in the region.
For the second straight session, Brent closed at its highest since 12 June and West Texas Intermediate at its highest since 15 June and rose further on early trade.
Brent rose $1.46, or 1.72 per cent, to $86.19 a barrel while WTI was up $1.11, or 1.4 per cent, to $80.40 a barrel.
Trump attacks Obama for Iran Nuclear Deal when asked if Tehran is serious about negotiating
04:05 , Rachel Dobkin
Donald Trump has attacked former US President Barack Obama for his Iran Nuclear Deal when asked if Tehran was serious about negotiating peace.
“Do you believe the Iranians are serious about making a deal?” Fox News’ Trey Yingst asked Trump during an interview Tuesday evening, Washington time.
When the US president said Iran has “no choice” but to, Yingst asked, “Why haven’t they yet?”
“They never made a deal with Obama. What they did sign was a worthless piece of paper”, Trump said.
He said the Iran Nuclear Deal was a “road to a nuclear weapon, and what I have is a wall — there will be no nuclear weapon”.
The Iran Nuclear Deal, which Iran signed in 2015 and Trump withdrew from in 2018, restricted Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions.
Trump suggests most of war goals 'have been completed'
03:55 , Rachel Dobkin
Donald Trump has suggested that most of his administration’s goals for the Iran war “have been completed”.
“Your objectives are to ensure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon, to keep the Strait [of Hormuz] open, and to degrade the Iranian military.
“Can those objectives be completed in an air campaign alone, or does this require a ground component?” Fox News’ Trey Yingst asked Trump during an interview Tuesday evening, Washington time.
“I think they are completed now, honestly”, Trump said. “If we left right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild what they have”.
Maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has remained diminished as the US and Iran trade strikes.
US treasury announces sanctions on 'major force behind Iran’s oil exports'
03:45 , Rachel Dobkin
The US Treasury Department has announced sanctions on Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani’s shipping network, which the agency said is a ”major force behind Iran’s oil exports”.
“This action is part of Treasury’s ongoing efforts to ramp up economic pressure on the Iranian regime after it resumed destabilizing attacks in the Strait of Hormuz”, the Treasury Department said in a Tuesday press release.
Trump rival says 'we won't look away' after Senate Democrats blocked defense spending bill
03:31 , Rachel Dobkin
Chuck Schumer, a political rival of US President Donald Trump, has said “we won't look away” after he and other Senate Democrats blocked a defense spending bill.
“Donald Trump is dragging America deeper into a war in Iran with no authorization, no plan, and no exit strategy.
“Democrats will not go along. Trump is expecting Congress to look the other way and ignore his illegal war, just days after he tore up his own ceasefire deal and dramatically escalated the fighting. We won’t look away”, the Senate minority leader wrote on X.
Earlier Tuesday, a motion to advance the $1.15 trillion annual defense authorization bill failed 50 to 46. It needed 60 votes to advance to the Senate floor.
Iran retaliates over US strikes by attacking Bahrain and Kuwait: report
02:53 , Rachel Dobkin
Iran has launched attacks against Bahrain and Kuwait, the Associated Press reported.
The Gulf nations were attacked in retaliation for fresh US strikes and American forces reinstating a naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian official accuses US of war crimes after he says environmental ranger post was targeted
02:38 , Rachel Dobkin
Esmaeil Baqaei, a spokesperson for Iran’s foreign affairs ministry, has accused the US of war crimes after he said an environmental ranger post was targeted.
“In the early hours of Tuesday, the terrorist U.S. military attacked an environmental ranger post in the village of Seyed Jowzar, Hajjiabad County, in northern Hormozgan, and martyred 3 members of Mr. Javad Hasanzadeh's family, the hardworking ranger.
“This is merely the latest example of America's heinous war crimes over the past four and a half months,” Baqaei wrote on X.
Watch: US military says it used drone boats on Iranian targets in first-of-its-kind attack
02:03 , James Reynolds
Trump suggests 'other people' will launch a ground campaign for him in Iran
01:25 , Rachel Dobkin
Donald Trump has suggested that “other people” will launch a ground campaign for him in Iran.
“Are you ruling out a ground campaign in a limited capacity?” Fox News’ Trey Yingst asked Trump during an interview Tuesday evening, Washington time.
“Well, I don’t want to say that either, but I would say no — if I thought it was appropriate. Sometimes you need a ground campaign, but we have other people that will do the ground campaign for us”, Trump said.
Senator Roger Marshall, a Kansas Republican, called for “the Gulf Coast countries” to “go in and finish the job” in an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Monday.
“They need to send their ground troops in, if that's what it takes. But it should not be American soldiers that are leading the way”, Marshall said.
Iran has attacked its Gulf neighbors throughout the war.
Trump doesn't rule out seizing Kharg Island
01:17 , Rachel Dobkin
Donald Trump has not ruled out seizing Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil hub.
The US president has threatened to take control of Kharg Island throughout the Iran war.
“Do you still intend to take Kharg Island?” Fox News’ Trey Yingst asked Trump during an interview Tuesday evening, Washington time.
“So I can't say that to you because if I did it'd be foolish. But it'd be nice, it'd make a little headlines”, Trump said.
“We already hit Kharg Island, as you know, twice — even three times. I said, ‘Hit everything but the oil’”, the president said. “Because I don’t want that, in terms of the world economy.”
Trump cautioned, “We haven’t hit that, but at some point we could, but I think it’s unlikely. As far as taking it is concerned, if we degrade them far enough and deep enough back, I would do that.”
Trump threatens to hit Iran's energy infrastructure
01:05 , Rachel Dobkin
Donald Trump has threatened to hit Iran's energy infrastructure in a new interview.
Fox News Trey Yingst asked the US president Tuesday evening, Washington time, if he’s considering hitting energy targets in Iran.
“I’ll save the energy targets for last, but ultimately, we'll hit energy targets”, Trump said.
The president warned that the US will hit Iran “very hard tonight. We’re gonna hit them very hard tomorrow night. We’re gonna hit them very hard the night after”.
“Next week comes the bridges. We're going to knock out all their power plants. We'll knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate”, Trump added.
Trump issues warning for Iran: 'You better make a deal'
Wednesday 15 July 2026 00:44 , Rachel Dobkin
Donald Trump has told Iran that it “better make a deal” with the US.
The US president told Fox News Trey Yingst Tuesday evening, Washington time, that Iran wants to work out a peace agreement with the US, but “every time they make a deal, they break it.”
Trump said his representative spoke with Iranian officials soon before his interview, and they said, “You better make a deal. You're not going to have anybody left.”
But the president noted, “We’re being very careful with the civilian population.”
US accuses Iran of intentionally targeting civilians by attacking 7 commercial ships
Wednesday 15 July 2026 00:35 , Rachel Dobkin
Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of US Central Command, has accused Iran of intentionally targeting civilians.
“Over the past seven days, Iran has intentionally targeted civilians across the region by attacking seven commercial ships resulting in nearly a dozen civilian crew members killed, missing, or injured”, Cooper wrote in a statement.
Statement from Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander: pic.twitter.com/epNbgbDaOP
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) July 14, 2026
