Trump Orders Fresh Strikes, Southern Iran Rocked by Multiple Explosions

United States President Donald Trump has ordered fresh strikes against Iran, warning of ‘far worse’ consequences if Tehran continues attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state media reported explosions at several locations along the country’s southern coast after US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced a new wave of attacks. Fighter jets were heard over Kish Island and blasts shook the port cities of Bandar Abbas, Konarak, and Chabahar, some of which lost electricity, the official IRNA news agency reported. ‘This is in retaliation for Iran’s bombing of ships yesterday,’ Trump said in a post on Truth Social. ‘If it happens again, it will be far worse!’ While ordering retaliation against Tehran, the US president said earlier on Wednesday that he expected this latest military escalation to end soon and open the door to further talks. CENTCOM said the strikes were conducted to degrade Iranian forces’ ability ‘to threaten freedom of navigation’ in the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes. ‘The United States holds Iran accountable for its recent unprovoked aggression against commercial shipping,’ CENTCOM said on X. Before ordering the latest strikes, Trump said a ceasefire with Iran had ended, prompting mediators Pakistan and Qatar as well as the United Nations to call for de-escalation. The Strait of Hormuz remains a flashpoint in a Middle Eastern conflict that began on 28 February with a US-Israeli attack that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was to be buried in his hometown of Mashhad on Thursday. Since that attack, Tehran has insisted on controlling the strait, saying it will charge fees for passage and threatening to strike vessels that deviate from permitted routes. Iran’s military attacked at least three ships in recent days, triggering massive US strikes on Iranian targets on Tuesday, followed by retaliatory attacks from Iran against Gulf states. ‘We will hit them hard tonight,’ Trump said at a NATO summit in Ankara. ‘They are violating the agreement every day.’ However, he later added that ‘whatever happens will be over soon.’ Oil prices surged eight per cent after Trump’s earlier comments that the ceasefire had ‘ended’.