Iran08 July, 20263 min read
Donald Trump Warns Iran It Will Face Further Strikes in Strait of Hormuz
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Iran threatens and attacks ships through the Strait of Hormuz since June 2026. Kharg Island could be targeted; maritime order questioned amid Iran tensions.
MoU unravels at sea
A memorandum of understanding in June 2026 sought to end the Iran war, but Iran has repeatedly threatened and attacked ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, aiming to coerce commercial vessels and the international community into routes and protocols set by Iran that would allow it to control the strait and collect fees on ships passing through.
“This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!”
The activity in the strait provoked strikes by the United States, particularly after three ships were attacked on July 6–7, and on July 7 U.S. President Donald Trump said he considered the truce to be over.
On July 8, Trump warned Iran that it will face further strikes if it launches any further attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, saying, "This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!"
The same Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty report said the U.S. military launched additional strikes against Iran hours after Trump threatened to "hit them [Iran] hard tonight," and it framed the action as holding Iran accountable for "recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway."
Debate over maritime control
In an interview with RFE/RL, analyst Noam Raydan, the William Sudhaus Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the memorandum of understanding was "very unclear" on the future management of the Strait of Hormuz and that Iran wants a central role in drafting that management. Raydan told RFE/RL that regional countries and the international shipping community have reservations because they have seen Iran "talk about transit fees or even maritime service fees," and he said Iran wants ships to use Iran-controlled lanes instead of routes guided by US forces.
The Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty report also quoted Trump at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, saying the Iranian leadership were “scum,” “liars,” and “loco” after sirens wailed in Bahrain and Kuwait, where authorities said they were dealing with hostile strikes. In a separate account, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ismail Baghaei said, "no one can claim that we have approached reaching an agreement," adding that "the repeated changes in the positions of American officials confuse any negotiations."
Regional and economic stakes
The Encyclopedia Britannica overview said the 2026 Iran war disrupted global travel and trade, halted flights in and out of the Middle East, and led to shipping reroutes to avoid the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea, while also describing severe disruption of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz as a driver of fuel shortages in parts of Asia and rippling effects across the global economy. In the same Britannica account, after more than five weeks of fighting, the United States and Iran agreed on April 7–8 to a ceasefire that included Israel, and mediators announced on June 14 a memorandum of understanding intended to bring the conflict to a formal end within 60 days of signing by the presidents of the United States and Iran on June 17.
The Guardian reported that the IMF upgraded its growth forecast for the UK to 1% this year, up 0.2 percentage points from its April forecast, while leaving those for other G7 countries weaker or unchanged amid hopes the economic impact of the Iran war may be less severe than feared. The IMF also warned that renewed conflict would propagate through "a further increase in commodity prices and extended volatility, supply shortages, and exchange rate pressures," and the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s Baghaei said any potential understanding would include "a cessation of war on all fronts, including Lebanon."