Iran War Live Updates: Trump Retracts Latest Threats of More Strikes

Iran’s foreign ministry said on Thursday the latest U.S. strikes had rendered a cease-fire agreed to in April “meaningless.” Iran’s lead negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, warned Washington on social media that “impulsive decisions will reset the entire board for the worse, explode energy infrastructure and markets, and create an endless quagmire that you will be stuck in for years.”

In his own post on Thursday Mr. Trump said that the United States would hit Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT,” and mused in a television interview that he might deploy the U.S. military to take Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, the heart of Iran’s oil economy.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Hegseth, who have criticized reporters for even asking about future operations, have in recent days broadcast their military plans hours before they are executed.

Even without an attack on Kharg Island, which analysts say would almost certainly necessitate the use of ground troops, the conflict had entered into a perilous new phase, with no clear signs of whether the fighting could be contained.

The U.S. military also sought to raise pressure on Iran at sea, striking three oil tankers this week in the Gulf of Oman for “attempting to transport Iranian oil,” U.S. Central Command said. The Indian government announced that three Indian crew members had died in one of the U.S. strikes on Wednesday, the first seafarers known to have been killed in the U.S. military effort to enforce a blockade to starve Iran of oil revenue.

The latest American attack in Iran began shortly before 1 a.m. local time on Thursday and lasted about four hours, according to Central Command. Explosions were heard in Qeshm near the Strait of Hormuz, as well as the southern cities of Bandar Abbas, Minab and Sirik, Iranian news outlets reported.

Iran said it had responded with two waves of attacks on targets at U.S. bases in Kuwait and Bahrain. Kuwait’s military said on Thursday morning that it was intercepting hostile targets, and the authorities briefly closed the country’s airspace to civilian aircraft. Sirens were activated in Bahrain, the country’s interior ministry said, without saying what had triggered them.

Here’s what else we’re covering:

• What comes next?: Experts think further escalation is likely, but are struggling to understand Washington and Tehran’s long-term strategies.

  Just days ago, President Trump said that a peace deal with Iran was within reach. But the volleys of airstrikes that the United States and Iran are exchanging this week risk starting a deadly new chapter in their monthslong war, analysts said Thursday.

  The fighting could be contained, even immediately, if either Mr. Trump or Iran’s leaders decided to recommit to an April cease-fire agreement meant to usher along talks to open the Strait of Hormuz and permanently end the conflict.

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• Iran water tanks: A New York Times analysis of satellite images and photographs suggests that a precision U.S. attack early Wednesday hit drinking-water facilities in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province. Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for Central Command, said the military is aware of the reports and is looking into them.

  Strikes early Wednesday destroyed what appears to be a drinking-water facility on Iran’s southern coast, near the Strait of Hormuz, according to an analysis by The New York Times. Around the time of the strikes, the U.S. Central Command said in a post on X that it had conducted attacks near the strait “with precision munitions from U.S. Air Force and Navy fighter jets.”

  Iranian state media reported that the U.S. had hit water storage buildings and a local official said that water was cut off to more than 20,000 people living in a town and villages nearby. Temperatures in the area have reached above 100 degrees Fahrenheit this week.

• Economic impact: The European Central Bank raised interest rates on Thursday in response to rising inflation caused by the war. The World Bank said in a report that the war and its effects on energy prices were slowing global economic growth this year to its weakest pace since the Covid-19 pandemic.

• Strait of Hormuz: Iran said that the key shipping lane was now closed to all vessels, including oil tankers and commercial ships. The U.S. military said the strait was not closed. The strait has effectively been blockaded by one or both sides since the war began in February, but the U.S. Navy has been guiding a small number of ships through, albeit a small fraction of how many would pass through in peace time.

  American forces in recent weeks have helped coordinate the passage of dozens of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, according to U.S. officials, even as travel through the waterway remains risky amid stalled negotiations to end the war with Iran.

  U.S. Central Command has guided around 70 commercial ships through the strait, traveling into and out of the Persian Gulf, in the last three weeks, one of the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters. The U.S. officials added that most of the vessels had turned off their transponders to avoid detection when going through the narrow waterway.

  The officials declined to say what type of vessels were going through and what route they took, but one official indicated that at least one route was not close to the Iranian coastline. Ships passing near Iran without obtaining Iranian approval face the threat of an almost-certain attack by Iranian drones or missiles, U.S. officials said. Shipping analysts say the U.S.-guided crossings appear to follow routes that are closer to Oman.

  Before the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran in late February, well over 100 commercial ships a day passed through the strait. So the U.S.-coordinated passages — an average of three a day over the three-week period — do not represent a big comeback for shipping. And because U.S.-guided crossings take place with transponders turned off, known as “dark” passages, shipping analysts say they cannot independently verify how many may have taken place.