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Trump vows to "hit them very hard tonight" as US reinstates Iran naval blockade

  • Trump vows to "hit them very hard tonight" as US reinstates Iran naval blockade.
    Trump vows to "hit them very hard tonight" as US reinstates Iran naval blockade.
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World
Category:
Politics
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The United States announced it will resume its naval blockade of Iranian ports starting Tuesday, as President Donald Trump signaled a fresh wave of military strikes that threatens to further destabilize the Middle East.

US Central Command said the blockade on ships traveling to and from Iranian ports will officially resume at 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday. The move reverses a key element of last month's ceasefire agreement, which had lifted the blockade in mid-April and required the Strait of Hormuz to remain fully open to all traffic without tolls. Washington also said it would now charge other vessels for safe passage through the strategic waterway, a sharp departure from its prewar stance.

Speaking in a radio interview, Trump left little doubt about what comes next. "We're going to hit them very hard tonight, and we're going to hit them hard tomorrow," he said, confirming that the United States intends to sustain and escalate military pressure on Tehran in the coming days.

The latest wave of US strikes, which extended into early Monday, hit roughly 140 targets across Iran in response to an Iranian attack on a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian media reported that the strikes have expanded beyond the country's coastal areas. Iran retaliated by striking multiple countries across the region, drawing more actors into an already volatile standoff.

The unraveling of last month's fragile understanding was underscored by Trump's own remarks dismissing the memorandum of understanding he had signed with Iran, calling it merely a "test" that Tehran failed to honor. "It's a standard tactic in the US that you go to a memorandum of understanding and then you go to the deal. I said, 'Just go to the deal first,'" Trump told host Hugh Hewitt — a notable shift from his earlier praise of the same memorandum as an agreement that ended the conflict, reopened the Strait of Hormuz, and prevented Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

The fallout is already spreading beyond the two main combatants: Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels accused Saudi Arabia of striking the airport in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. Oil prices jumped sharply following the blockade announcement, reflecting mounting concern among global markets over the stability of one of the world's most critical energy shipping routes. With the truce now in tatters, the region faces the renewed prospect of open conflict between Washington and Tehran.