Iran Strikes U.S. Bases After Attacking Shipping; U.S. Retaliates to Reopen Strait

President Donald Trump declared the ceasefire between the United States and Iran over on Wednesday. He said the U.S. strikes were retribution for Iranian bombing of ships the previous day and added that further incidents would bring stronger action.

"If it happens again, it will get much worse," Trump stated. The U.S. military struck 80 Iranian targets on Tuesday, including 60 small boats, and 90 targets on Wednesday, including air defense systems, missile and drone storage sites, and naval assets, according to Central Command.

Iran responded with drone strikes on U.S. Patriot missile defense systems in Kuwait, a satellite antenna in Qatar, and fuel storage in Bahrain, Iranian state media reported. Iranian state media listed the specific bases hit in Kuwait as Arifjan and Ali Al Salem and in Bahrain as Juffair and Sheikh Isa.

Iranian Speaker of Parliament Mohammad B. Ghalibaf said the Strait of Hormuz would open only under Iranian arrangements. "America still hasn’t learned that bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost-free," Ghalibaf stated.

The strait carried about a fifth of the world’s oil before the conflict, and Iranian attacks had targeted commercial vessels there. Hundreds of ships holding 6,000 seafarers have been stranded in the Persian Gulf since the conflict began, the United Nations said.

Arsenio Dominguez, secretary general of the UN's International Maritime Organization, condemned attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz in a July 8 statement and urged countries, shipowners, and ship operators to avoid exposing seafarers to unnecessary danger by transiting the strait.