Donald Trump just raised the stakes in the U.S.-Iran conflict with a warning that went far beyond airstrikes. The president floated a drastic military option while declaring the ceasefire dead at the NATO summit in Turkey.
Donald Trump suggested a possible naval blockade as US-Iran tensions intensified
President Donald Trump declared the U.S.-Iran ceasefire “over” at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on Wednesday, the Washington Post reported. He also weighed reinstating a naval blockade on Iran after both nations exchanged dozens of strikes overnight. Trump warned of more imminent attacks on Iranian targets and said, “We would probably hit them hard again tonight.”
The president acknowledged it could be dangerous to restart the blockade of Iran’s ports. The U.S. officially removed it last month after signing the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding. Trump raised concerns that Iran could respond by placing mines in the Strait of Hormuz. He told reporters, “We may put it back, the blockade. And it’ll only be a blockade for Iran.”
The U.S. had previously imposed a naval blockade on Iran in April after peace talks in Islamabad collapsed. The blockade began on April 13 and applied only to ships going to and from Iran. Trump lifted it in June as part of a broader ceasefire agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The renewed hostilities followed Iranian attacks on three commercial tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. Central Command then launched over 80 strikes targeting Iranian military sites in response. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it retaliated by targeting 85 U.S. military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait.
Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X, “The era of bullying and extortion is over. It leads nowhere. We don’t fold.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry blamed the U.S. for violating the peace agreement by revoking a waiver for Iranian oil sales. Oil prices spiked sharply, with Brent crude futures rising more than 5 percent to over $78 per barrel. The two nations remain locked in a 60-day negotiation window over Iran’s nuclear program and possible sanctions relief.
