DUBAI/ASHEVILLE: A fragile lull between the United States and Iran has been shattered after the two sides exchanged direct attacks for the first time in a month, with US President Donald Trump warning that Washington would respond forcefully.
Iran launched missiles overnight at two US air bases in Jordan in retaliation for a US strike on Iran’s Larak Island. Washington said its forces had targeted Iranian launchers that were preparing to deploy sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
The exchange underscored how quickly the conflict, which in recent weeks had increasingly centred on sanctions, blockades and economic pressure, could return to direct military confrontation.
Neither side appeared to be openly seeking a return to full-scale war, but both signalled that they were prepared to respond if further attacks were launched.
“We’re going to hit them hard,” a Fox News reporter quoted Trump as saying. “There will be a response.”
Speaking separately to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said the latest strikes did not necessarily mean the conflict was returning to full-scale war. He described Iran as a “failed nation” whose economy and military had been severely weakened.
“That doesn’t mean we won’t smack them. We’ll see what happens,” he said.
Asked whether he had ruled out using nuclear weapons against Iran, Trump said there was “no reason” to do so because Iran had already been “totally defeated militarily.”
A senior Iranian source told Reuters that the overnight exchanges, the first since late July, represented a “limited and contained confrontation”. The source warned, however, that Tehran would respond harshly if Iran came under attack again.
Trump said US air defences had intercepted all Iranian missiles capable of causing damage and claimed that Washington’s latest economic sanctions were having a significant impact on Iran, Fox News reported.
AI-generated videos fuel controversy
Earlier, Trump had posted two videos on social media showing explosions allegedly engulfing Iran’s main oil export terminal on Kharg Island, accompanied by the message: “Kharg island being blown to smithereens!!!”
The videos were AI-generated, however, and there was no evidence that such an attack had taken place.
Iran dismissed Trump’s post as “laughable”. US Vice President JD Vance, meanwhile, said Trump was “sending a message” and liked to “switch it up on social media a little bit”.
Washington has so far largely avoided attacking Iran’s major oil and gas infrastructure. Tehran has warned that any such action would trigger devastating attacks against US allies and other countries in the Gulf.
Washington intensifies economic pressure
Instead of targeting Iran’s key energy infrastructure, the United States has stepped up economic pressure on Tehran and companies doing business with it.
Washington has imposed “secondary sanctions” aimed at third countries and businesses that purchase Iranian oil.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Iran was lashing out militarily because the sanctions were putting increasing pressure on its economy.
“They’re in shock at the state of their economy,” Bessent told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in North Carolina.
He suggested that Iran’s military response was partly driven by its worsening economic situation.
Bessent told Reuters on Sunday that the United States was likely to introduce new secondary sanctions on a weekly basis, initially focusing on banks.
US-Iran War Risks New Escalation as Diplomacy Stalls
US strikes Iranian launchers on Larak Island
US forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island on Sunday, according to a US official.
The official said forces belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had been observed preparing to launch rockets carrying sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian news agency Tasnim reported that three people were killed in the US strike. State-affiliated Nournews said two of those killed were members of the Revolutionary Guards Navy.
Larak is a small Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz, near the strategically important port of Bandar Abbas.
The waterway normally carries around one-fifth of the world’s crude oil and gas shipments. It has effectively been blocked since the beginning of the war, disrupting one of the world’s most important energy routes.
US Central Command said it had carried out “limited, precise” strikes against Revolutionary Guards forces involved in mine-laying operations, describing them as an “imminent threat” to shipping in the strait.
The command did not provide further details.
Iranian state television, meanwhile, quoted the Revolutionary Guards as saying a supertanker had caught fire and stopped after being hit by two naval mines in the southern part of the strait.
The US military later denied the claim.
Iran says it remains open to negotiations
The latest escalation comes after months of intermittent fighting and failed attempts to establish a lasting diplomatic framework.
Trump suspended his “Operation Epic Fury” bombing campaign with a ceasefire in April. The two sides later agreed in June on an interim framework for talks, but the arrangement failed to hold, leading to renewed exchanges of fire, including two weeks of US bombing in July.
Over the past month, Washington has increasingly relied on economic pressure and a blockade of Iranian ports, hoping to inflict enough damage on Tehran to force it to accept US demands.
Iran, meanwhile, has maintained that the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and that it will only reopen under Iranian supervision.
Despite the latest confrontation, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that Tehran still preferred a negotiated settlement.
“We believe that continuing the war is in no one’s interest, neither ours, nor the region’s, nor humanity’s,” Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted Pezeshkian as telling Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of a regional security meeting in Kyrgyzstan.
Trump has yet to achieve the main objectives he set out at the beginning of the conflict, including dismantling Iran’s nuclear programme, restricting its ability to strike regional rivals and creating conditions that could lead to the overthrow of Iran’s clerical leadership.
