Full story
Blockade, strikes, tanker disabled
The U.S. reimposed its naval blockade on Iranian ports and launched a new wave of strikes on Iran on Wednesday, with U.S. Central Command saying the operations targeted Iranian military capabilities used to threaten vessels freely transiting through the Strait of Hormuz.
CENTCOM said it disabled an unladen oil tanker, the Curaçao-flagged M/T Belma, as it transited international waters toward Kharg Island, after the vessel “ignored multiple warnings” and a U.S. aircraft fired Hellfire missiles into the ship’s smokestack.
In Washington’s framing of the escalation, Vice President JD Vance said he was “very frustrated” by people arguing “You cannot negotiate with the Iranians,” and he pressed that “you’ve got to actually be willing to talk and to try to figure out the problem.”
The same day, the U.S. military said it launched two back-to-back waves of strikes on Wednesday, marking the fifth day of attacks on Iran as both countries angle to control the Strait of Hormuz.
The Independent reported that the first wave of strikes was completed at 2:00 a.m. GMT and another round completed at 11:30 a.m., before the third wave was launched at 7 p.m. in a 24-hour span.
Vance, Trump and competing aims
In an interview released Wednesday, JD Vance described the U.S. approach as a “delicate diplomatic dance” with Iran, saying “we're trying to talk to the pragmatists, and then, of course when they commit acts of violence, we're responding to it.”
Vance also argued that “hawks” had “misrepresented” and “lied about” the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding by claiming it would give Iran much-needed sanctions relief, saying it was “completely made up” and done “purely in order to politically tank the negotiation.”
President Donald Trump told reporters he didn’t like giving deadlines, saying, “I don't like giving deadlines, but they pretty much know. They know the story. They better behave,” after the U.S. warned it would strike bridges and power plants next week unless Iran returned to negotiations.
ABC News reported that Trump said the U.S. might have to wipe out Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and when asked whether he believes he might have to take out the IRGC, Trump replied, "yeah," but added he has to "see what's happening."
The Independent also quoted CENTCOM’s rationale for the strikes, saying they were targeting Iranian military capabilities used to threaten vessels freely transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, an international waterway vital to global commerce.
Energy stakes and regional fallout
The AP said the U.S. reimposed the blockade after Tehran’s attacks on ships trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, and it warned that retaliatory strikes across the Middle East threaten to push the region back to all-out war.
“US reimposes its blockade on Iran after Tehran’s attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz US reimposes its blockade on Iran after Tehran’s attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U”
AP reported that Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened Wednesday to halt all energy exports from the Middle East over the blockade, saying, “The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one.”
In Washington’s view of the stakes, the BBC reported that Trump predicted Iran will be defeated soon while the U.S. expanded strikes near the Strait of Hormuz and Bandar Abbas, and it said CENTCOM described the tanker disabling as the first time the United States stopped a vessel by force since reimposing the blockade.
The Independent said the International Monetary Fund warned the war is creating a global energy disruption, quoting Christian Mumssen that “Internally, we will have to continue to think in scenarios. And for some countries, the question of energy prices ... is, of course, extremely important”.
Euronews reported that the IRGC said the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until Washington ends its 'aggressive actions,' and it warned that “retaliatory actions will continue and the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the United States ends its aggressive actions.”
