US launches new strikes on Iran

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. carried out another round of strikes on Iran on Wednesday, hours after President Donald Trump said that recent Iranian attacks on ships in Strait of Hormuz signaled the end of the ceasefire.

Military officials said in a social media post that the strikes were intended to "further degrade" Iran's ability “to threaten freedom of navigation” in the strait.

The action comes just a day after the U.S. military hit a variety of military sites and port facilities following Iran’s targeting of several merchant vessels off the coast of Oman.

The social media post said that the U.S. "is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway.”

Iranian state media reported explosions, including in the port city of Bandar Abbas on the strait and in Sirik, another southern coastal city.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. military attacked Iran early Wednesday after it said Tehran struck three ships in the Strait of Hormuz, part of an American effort that also revoked the Islamic Republic's ability to openly sell crude oil in the world market.

Iran immediately warned Washington it would “take whatever measures it deems necessary," raising the risks that an interim agreement in the war halting fighting could break down, putting the wider Middle East again at risk of a wider conflict. Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, sounded its missile alert sirens Wednesday morning after the American attack on Iran.

The attacks on shipping and the resulting strikes on Iran came during the dayslong funeral for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed Feb. 28 in the war's first moments at age 86. The funeral, which ends Thursday, had been thought to be a period of lower tensions — though mourners have repeatedly called for the killings of U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Negotiations to reach a final deal had been due to start after Khamenei's burial and focus on the toughest matters, including fully reopening the strait and rolling back Tehran’s disputed nuclear program. But the new attacks threw that into question.

“The era of bullying and extortion is over,” Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf wrote on X. “It leads nowhere. We don’t fold.”

Overnight US strikes target Iran

The U.S. military's Central Command said American forces launched the strikes “to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.”

It said it hit Iranian targets including air defense systems, radars and over 60 small boats used by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. Those boats have been key in harassing ships in the strait.

The U.S. military remains “postured and prepared to hold Iran accountable when the agreement is not adhered to or obeyed,” it added, saying this round of attacks had ended.

Iran acknowledged the strikes, but offered no word on any losses. Iranian state media reported the sound of explosions in Bandar Abbas, Qeshm and Sirik.

Iran's central military command warned it “will respond decisively to this aggression and terrorist act."

“Under no circumstances will (the Iranian armed forces) allow interference in the affairs of the Strait of Hormuz, nor will they permit others to manage it,” it said.

A similar spate of Iranian attacks on shipping and U.S. retaliatory strikes occurred late last month — which drew Iranian attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait. Wednesday's strikes also came as Trump was in Turkey for a summit of the NATO military alliance.