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10th Night of Strikes
The United States military said late Monday it was carrying out its 10th consecutive night of strikes on Iran, in a push to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
“Lebanese President Joseph Aoun will visit the White House on Tuesday, a White House official confirmed, marking his first face-to-face meeting with President Donald Trump”
The renewed bombings followed the death of another American service member, and came after Iran launched attacks on American allies Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain, home of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.
U.S. Central Command said on social media that the latest strikes were “designed to further degrade Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial shipping” in the strait.
Iran’s interior minister traveled to Pakistan, a key mediator in the conflict, for talks as the interim deal signed last month meant to end the fighting has crumbled, while shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has largely stalled.
Democrats Press Trump
Democrats seized on the deaths of three U.S. troops killed in Iranian strikes to urge Donald Trump to urgently reverse his resumption of the war with Iran amid anxiety over climbing casualties.
Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator for Connecticut, accused Trump of having “frighteningly lost control of this war,” as the Pentagon released the names of two soldiers killed in a strike on Muwaffaq Salti air base in Jordan on Friday.
The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, declared that the US would not be deterred by the casualties, writing: “Godspeed, heroes. Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve.”
Mark Warner, the vice chair of the Senate intelligence committee and a Democrat from Virginia, said there were “hundreds of seriously wounded” U.S. personnel and called it “remarkable” that casualty figures had not been higher.
Energy and Regional Risk
The escalation has pushed oil prices higher in recent weeks, with Benchmark Brent crude traded Monday above $88 a barrel and regular gasoline in the U.S. climbed to an average of $4 a gallon.
“Tehran announces a "full-scale" war with Washington and halts maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, while Trump vows Iran will pay a price "much higher"”
A new potential threat to world energy markets emerged Monday after Iran-backed rebels in Yemen said they planned to prevent Saudi Arabia from shipping in the Red Sea, an alternate route for oil exports during the war.
The BBC reported that Trump warned Iran with a price “much higher” after the killing of American soldiers, while Iranian President Masoud Bezhkian said his country is in a “full-scale war” with the United States.
The BBC also said Tehran announced a ban on maritime traffic to Saudi Arabia as shipping in the Strait of Hormuz continued to be disrupted, and it quoted an Iranian official saying, “will not allow the misuse of this waterway again to threaten Iran’s security and national interests.”
