Sawt Falasteen - US, Iran hit each other again as hopes for quick peace deal fade

The second straight day of tit-for-tat strikes, with Iran targeting US bases across the Gulf, sent oil prices rising again.

US President Donald Trump, who had repeatedly said negotiations with Tehran were close to an end, said Wednesday that Iran keeps "playing us for suckers" and will now "have to pay the price".

Hours after, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said American forces began "additional self-defense strikes" at 5:15 pm on Wednesday Washington time -- early Thursday in Iran -- in response to what it called Tehran's "unwarranted and continued aggression".

Iranian media reported explosions across the south near the Strait of Hormuz, with explosions heard in Bandar Abbas, Qeshm and Minab, and sources reporting hits by "enemy projectiles" in Kargan and Sirik.

CENTCOM said later that it had "completed" its strikes on "Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communication systems, and air defense sites".

American forces "fired precision munitions on Iranian targets that posed a threat to U.S. forces and international commercial ships transiting regional waters", the command said.

The renewed hostilities came as Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said that if Trump required it, "we'll negotiate with bombs, and we're very good at it".

In response to the US strikes, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said they had struck US targets on bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, and that they also "hit and destroyed Sheikh Isa air bases", according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

Iranian media said the army had conducted drone strikes targeting communications antennas and radar facilities belonging to the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.

An air raid alert was issued in Bahrain and residents were urged to "head to the nearest safe place", the Gulf nation's interior ministry said on X.

Kuwait closed its airspace temporarily as its military said its air defence systems were working to intercept "hostile aerial targets".

Iran also renewed its warning over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for oil and gas transport which it has essentially closed.

"Are you making the sacred Strait of Hormuz unsafe?! We will make the region hell for you," Majid Mousavi, the head of the Iranian Guards' aerospace force, said in a social media post.

The Iranian navy said it had hit two ships trying to sail through the Strait of Hormuz, state television IRIB and the Mehr agency reported.

Another Iranian news agency, Tasnim, quoted the country's military operational command as saying the crucial waterway was "completely closed" and that "any vessel traffic" there would be targeted.

CENTCOM denied that, saying "commercial ships are continuing to transit in and out of the Strait of Hormuz tonight".

Trump said Wednesday that the US military had secretly helped 100 million barrels of oil pass through the contested strait.

- 'Bomb the S out of them' -

Earlier, American broadcaster Fox News reported that Trump said Iranian leaders had called him directly in the White House Situation Room as the US bombs began falling.

Iran's Guards quickly denied Tehran had done so, the IRNA news agency said.

Trump said US forces hit Iran with 49 Tomahawk missiles and some targets were as close as 40 miles (60 kilometres) from Tehran, Fox News said.

Its reporter Trey Yingst, who spoke to Trump, quoted the president as saying that if Iran did not accept US terms for ending the war, "We'll bomb the S out of them tomorrow night".

It was the second straight day of US attacks, following tit-for-tat strikes this week partly in response to the Iranian downing of an American helicopter.

The fresh salvos followed Trump's complaint that Tehran's negotiators were taking too long, having suggested earlier this week that an accord was days away.

"We hit them hard yesterday. We're going to hit them again hard today," Trump told reporters Wednesday morning.

"We were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along."

Hegseth suggested the strikes could extend into a third night, saying they would be "strong" and "clear".

The escalation drew international calls for restraint on the eve of the World Cup, which the United States is co-hosting and Iran is participating in.

UN chief Antonio Guterres cautioned against a return to "full war".

Iran's UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani, meanwhile, rejected Trump's threat, saying "no sustainable deal can be reached through threats, intimidation, or the use of force".

Still, diplomacy has not collapsed entirely, with Qatari negotiators travelling to Tehran "to meet with the Iranians in an effort to bridge the remaining gaps", a diplomat with knowledge of the situation said.

The war began in February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, shaking the geopolitical balance in the Middle East and roiling global markets before a ceasefire took effect on April 8.

Asian stocks tracked losses in New York, while oil prices jumped as much as two percent Thursday, extending similar gains the day before.

Iran has also insisted that any deal to end the war must include a truce in Lebanon, drawn into the conflict when Iran-backed Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2.

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T.Ibrahim--SF-PST