US launches strikes as Iran warns of ‘existential war’
As the United States struck Iran’s coastal defenses and missile sites after reimposing a naval blockade of its ports, Iranian officials threatened to further halt regional energy exports, saying the country was engaged in an “existential war” with the United States.
A recent escalation of attacks and counter-attacks launched by the United States and Iran has kept the region on edge in the days after the collapse of a fragile ceasefire and raised the possibility of a return to full-scale war, although analysts generally view it as less likely.
Clashes have intensified since Iran announced late Saturday that it was closing the Strait of Hormuz.
Ongoing military operations are also preventing ships from passing through the vital artery, which before the war carried about a fifth of global oil and gas shipments.
International benchmark Brent crude oil closed at a one-month high at $84.95 per barrel on Wednesday.
U.S. Central Command said the military attacked coastal defense systems and cruise missile storage and launch sites on Iran’s Great Tunb Island, completing the attack wave in about 90 minutes.
“At 6 a.m. today, U.S. Central Command forces began launching a wave of attacks against Iran,” the U.S. military said.
“The attacks were designed to further weaken the military capabilities used by Iranian forces to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”
In a statement issued hours after Iran’s Mehr news agency reported that US shells had hit a spot on Iran’s Hengam Island in the strait, Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf, said Iranian security depends on maintaining what he called “Iranian arrangements” in the strait.
“We are in a significant and existential war with America,” Kalibaf said in a statement. he said.
Before the war, Iran did not have the authority to guard the strait.
The war killed thousands and displaced millions; especially in Iran and Lebanon, where conflict has resumed between Israel and the Iran-linked militant group Hezbollah.
US forces launched an operation for the second wave attack against Iran at 15:00 today. The attacks target Iran’s military capabilities, which are used to threaten ships passing freely through the Strait of Hormuz, an international waterway vital to global trade. The…— US Central Command (@CENTCOM) July 15, 2026
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Iran strongly wants to compromise with the US and that the US will decide whether to take such a step.
Trump said Tuesday that U.S. negotiators have been in contact with their Iranian counterparts and told them “you better make a deal.”
Three US officials told Reuters that US attacks to open the strait also target Iranian military capabilities that the US would want to destroy before carrying out more complex operations.
Shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz dropped to a fraction of what it was before the war.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Wednesday it had struck US military targets in the region, including Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.
He also threatened to halt further regional energy exports on Wednesday, saying the United States “must be prepared to close all other export corridors that benefit the United States and its allies.”
The interim ceasefire agreement signed last month was supposed to lead to further negotiations and a permanent ceasefire, including on Iran’s nuclear program, but a return to talks has stalled.
“We have no plans for negotiations at the moment and we are focusing on defence,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei was quoted by Tasnim news agency as saying. he said.
Qalibaf, who is also the speaker of the Iranian parliament, said that if Iran does not benefit from the memorandum of understanding it signed with the United States, “we have no reason to adhere to such an understanding.”
Qalibaf said Iran has never welcomed war, but must always be ready to fight and “stand until the end” to protect national security and Iranian interests.
He added that Iran must also use “tools of diplomacy and negotiation” and that choosing negotiation or war as the only course of action would be a strategic mistake.
The United States says Iran attacked seven commercial ships last week, leaving nearly a dozen crew members dead, missing or injured.
Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said that at least 30 civilians have been killed in recent days due to US attacks on southern Iran.
