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Strikes and ship threats
The U.S. military began carrying out a 13th consecutive night of strikes against Iran on Thursday, with U.S. Central Command saying the campaign is aimed to "hold Iran accountable and diminish threats from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to commercial shipping."
“United States President Donald Trump says he may launch the largest strikes on Iran yet after Tehran carried out another wave of retaliatory attacks on US allies in the Gulf, including hitting a telecommunications tower in Kuwait”
President Donald Trump also warned that any further damage to vessels in the Strait of Hormuz would be paid for using Iranian funds held by the United States, writing on Truth Social that "any and all damages done to Ships, Cargo, or anything related thereto, will be paid for by Iranian Money that the United States has in its possession, and controls."
The Fox News report said explosions were heard across multiple parts of Iran on Thursday after the U.S. launched another wave of strikes, including an explosion on the southern coast of Qeshm Island and multiple explosions in the southern city of Ahvaz.
The Guardian live updates said Iranian state media reported multiple explosions in Ahvaz and noted that Trump had said he was close to deciding whether to launch "a massive attack" against Iran on a scale larger than earlier strikes.
Major punishment and reactions
As the war spread toward the Red Sea, President Trump threatened "major military punishment" against Iran and its Houthi allies if the Houthis launch more attacks on Saudi vessels, framing the Houthis as a surrogate for Tehran.
In a Truth Social post cited by CNBC, Trump said the U.S. would hold Iran responsible for future Houthis attacks and added that "major military punishment will be inflicted upon Iran and, of course, the Houthis, themselves."
The BBC reported that Washington was seriously considering resuming major combat operations in Iran with bigger strikes than those carried out during the 'Epic Rage' operation, and quoted Trump telling Axios: "I am studying launching a broad attack, bigger than ever before."
The BBC also reported that Gulf Cooperation Council states and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan condemned Tehran's attacks as "clear aggression" and called on the United Nations Security Council to issue an immediate resolution obliging Iran to stop all its attacks and provocative moves.
Congress, readiness, and next moves
In Washington, the House of Representatives backed a resolution directing President Trump to halt military action against Iran unless he obtained Congress' approval, with the House vote reported as 214-208 and the Senate later voting 49 to 47 to block its own war powers measure.
“What to know about the Iran war today: - The U”
The Guardian live updates said the Pentagon’s Defense Casualty Analysis System showed 18 U.S. service members dead on Wednesday, but that by Thursday the number had lowered to 14, with the New York Times quoting a Pentagon press secretary saying the change was due to "temporary data disruptions."
The Guardian also reported that U.S. defense secretary Pete Hegseth requested $67bn in emergency defense funds for his department for 2026 and demanded a $454bn increase for 2027 military spending, to a total of almost $1.5tn.
CBS News reported that the rapid pace of U.S. expending advanced air-defense interceptors and precision-guided weapons had become a point of "great tension inside the Trump administration" and said officials warned the U.S. cannot sustain the rate at which it expended precision munitions early in the campaign against Iran.
