US strikes Iran again as Tehran warns of ‘existential war’

Cairo/Dubai: The US has launched another wave of strikes on Iran’s coastal defences and missile sites after reimposing a naval blockade of its ports, while Iran has threatened to shut off more regional energy exports, saying it is engaged in an “existential war” with America.

US Central Command (Centcom) said in a statement it had begun a second wave of strikes at 3pm US time on Wednesday (5am Thursday AEST) “targeting Iranian military capabilities used to threaten vessels freely transiting through the Strait of Hormuz”.

The fresh strikes followed another round of rare daytime strikes, marking the latest escalation of attacks and counterattacks launched by the two sides as they vie for control of the Strait of Hormuz, which carried about a fifth of global oil and gas shipments before the war.

In a statement issued hours after Iran’s Mehr news agency reported that US projectiles had hit a location on Iran’s Hengam Island in the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, said Iranian security depended on maintaining what he called “Iranian arrangements” in the strait.

“We are in an essential and existential war with America,” Ghalibaf said in a statement.

Centcom said the military had attacked coastal defence systems and cruise missile storage and launch sites on Iran’s Greater Tunb Island and had completed the wave of strikes within about 90 minutes.

That followed seven hours of strikes, in which the US said it had hit dozens of military targets near the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian coastal areas.

Iran ‘will stand to the end’

In response, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Wednesday it had struck American military targets in the region, including in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.

It also threatened on Wednesday to shut off more regional energy exports, saying the US “must brace for the closure of all other export corridors that benefit the US and its allies”.

An interim ceasefire deal in the conflict signed last month was meant to lead to further negotiations, including on Iran’s nuclear programme, and to a permanent truce, but a return to talks has faltered.

“We have no plans for negotiations at the moment and are focused on defence,” Tasnim news agency quoted Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as saying.

Ghalibaf, who is also Speaker of Iran’s parliament, said that if Iran did not benefit from its memorandum of understanding with the US, “we have no reason to adhere to such an understanding”.

Iran never welcomed war, but it must always be ready to fight and “stand to the end” to protect national security and Iranian interests, Ghalibaf said. He added that Iran must also use “the tools of diplomacy and negotiation,” and that choosing either negotiation or war as the sole course of action would be a strategic error.

Hostilities have intensified since Iran said late on Saturday it had closed the Strait of Hormuz. The US says Iran attacked seven commercial ships over the last week, leaving nearly a dozen crew members killed, missing or injured.

‘We’ll hit energy targets’ says Trump

President Donald Trump on Wednesday AEST threatened to hit Iranian power plants and bridges next week unless Tehran resumes negotiations.

“I’ll save the energy targets for last, but ultimately, we’ll hit energy targets,” Trump said.

American negotiators had been in touch with their Iranian counterparts to tell them “you better make a deal,” Trump added.

The war, which began with US and Israeli strikes against Iran on February 28, triggered Iranian attacks on Gulf states that host American bases and caused major disruption to global
energy supplies, raising fears of a surge in inflation.

Oil prices fell back on Wednesday, after settling on Tuesday at a new one-month high.

Analysts say that while the US and Iran have gone back to sparring as they did before the interim ceasefire deal was signed, they are unlikely to return to full-scale war, though a risk of further escalation remains.

They say Iran is signalling it may use its Houthi allies in Yemen to shut Bab el-Mandeb, opening a new front against Washington and putting two of the world’s most vital energy arteries at risk.

Bab el-Mandeb links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, through which Saudi oil exports and a substantial share of global shipping pass. Some shippers have been returning to Red Sea routes after being deterred by Houthi attacks linked to the Gaza war that began in 2023.

As a result of this year’s Iran war, Iran has been trying to assert permanent control over shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and to impose fees on vessels passing through it, in what would be a major shift in the balance of power in a region where the U.S. has long acted as guarantor of security.

As tensions escalated, Trump on Monday floated the idea of a 20 per cent fee on shipping through the strait. On Tuesday, he scrapped the idea and said, without providing details, that he would instead seek investment deals with Gulf states.

The war has killed thousands of people and displaced millions, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, where the conflict restarted between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said at least 30 civilians had been killed in recent days due to American strikes on southern Iran, state media reported on Wednesday.

Reuters

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