Donald Trump is considering a new wave of strikes against Iran amid growing concern that Tehran has rebuilt its military capacity, as both sides traded direct fire for the first time in a month. Three US officials told Axios that the president is weighing limited strikes in the Strait of Hormuz in a bid to stop Tehran from reconstituting its radar and missile capabilities used to attack ships. One of the officials framed the plan as “mow[ing] the lawn” to reduce the risk of Iranian attacks on traffic in the waterway, following a recent missile launch targeting an American F-35 fighter jet providing cover to ships.
Trump openly threatened strikes against Iran on Monday after the Islamic Republic attacked two US air bases in Jordan in response to a US attack on Iran’s Larak Island, off the coast of Bandar Abbas, where Washington said it had struck Iranian launchers deploying mines in the strait. Three people were killed in the US attack, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported. The state-affiliated Nournews said two of them had been identified as members of the Revolutionary Guards Navy.
The latest escalation came just days after secretary of state Marco Rubio told allies that the US was moving away from strikes and towards imposing economic pressure on Iran through sanctions, according to Axios. The US has been trying to gain leverage and unsettle Tehran’s hold on shipping through Hormuz after an interim deal to end the fighting broke down in June. The conflict, now in its seventh month, has cost the US military billions of dollars already without resolving any stated objectives, while voters have been turned off by rising energy prices inflicted by Iran’s closure of the strait.
In a message to his base, President Trump posted an AI video on his Truth Social platform on Monday captioned “Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!!” The false video showed missiles raining down on port infrastructure. The clip forced the Pentagon to deny that the US had struck Iran’s main petroleum export hub, and invited ridicule from the head of the national Iranian oil company, Hamid Bovard, who said the post was “laughable” and insisted Kharg’s terminals were still fully operational. With pressure mounting on the Trump administration to end the war, president Trump took to social media again to insist that Iran was suffering under the weight of the war.
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said Iran was now “lashing out” because sanctions were taking a toll on its economy. He told on Sunday that new secondary sanctions are likely to be rolled out weekly in order to ramp up pressure on Iran, with an initial focus on banks. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
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