Trump Threatens More Iran Strikes as Tankers Hit Near Hormuz
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- Trump threatened further US strikes on Iran at Camp David on Friday, saying the US would hit Iran "very hard" until they "can't take it anymore" and indicating military action could continue for some time
- White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding on a truce last month but then "broke it, shot at commercial ships, and killed American soldiers," framing Iran's escalation as the trigger for new strikes
- Kuwait's military responded to Iranian drone strikes that hit "a number of vital facilities" including a government building in the north, per Defence Ministry spokesperson Maj Gen Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi, with no casualties reported
- British Navy-linked UKMTO reported two commercial-vessel incidents in the Strait of Hormuz off Oman: an unknown projectile hit a tanker 11 nautical miles NE of Lima, damaging its engine room, and an explosion was logged near another tanker 21 nautical miles NW of Khasab city
- US State Department issued fresh security alerts on Saturday for Americans in 10 Middle Eastern countries — Bahrain, Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — warning of flight cancellations and temporary airspace closures
- Hamas confirmed on Friday it would disarm as part of a US-brokered ceasefire announced last October, though intense Israeli strikes killed at least four people in central and northern Gaza and wounded dozens
- Houthi rebels said eight Saudi ships were forced to reroute around the Cape of Good Hope after the group announced a blockade on Bab el-Mandeb strait shipping
Why it matters: The confrontation has spread from the Iran-US axis into Kuwait's airspace and Omani shipping lanes, with Kuwait reporting Iranian drone strikes on vital facilities and the State Department issuing alerts across 10 Middle Eastern countries. Trump's stated bar for de-escalation — Iran coming to the table on terms he deems "meaningful" — leaves the military campaign open-ended for now, and the WH's invocation of a recently signed truce MoU that Iran allegedly broke is the diplomatic cover being used to justify the next round of strikes.
