WASHINGTON -- The U.S. launched its third consecutive night of strikes on Iran following President Trump's announcements of a multiday wave of attacks and a fresh blockade on Iranian trade in the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. Central Command said the latest round began at 4:45 p.m. Eastern time to "continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz."
Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt that the U.S. was going to hit Iran "very hard" Monday and Tuesday, "and there's not a damn thing they can do about it." Speaking shortly before Monday's attacks began, Trump further announced that the U.S. would strike Pickaxe Mountain, a fortified, underground nuclear site yet to be targeted since the war began Feb. 28.
Trump decided last week that the ceasefire with Iran was over, citing the regime's repeated attacks on commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. A pause in the fighting agreed to in June was predicated on the free flow of traffic in the waterway and the end of the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports, allowing time for peace talks to cap Tehran's nuclear work. Since then, the U.S. has resumed its attacks on Iran -- though not as heavily as in the earliest stages of the war -- targeting missile and air-defense systems, as well as small boats belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Trump later told reporters at the White House that a deal with Iran was still possible, but stressed that the U.S. would eventually control the "whole" of the strait.
"I want to be reimbursed because we're protecting a very rich portion of the world," Trump said. "We're spending money, and so what we've done is we are going to be reimbursed for protection."
U.S. officials said the attacks both punish Tehran for targeting ships in the strait and pressure the regime back to the negotiating table. Few believe Trump seeks a return to all-out war, the officials said, though he has received briefings on what a return to that level of fighting could look like, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.
On Monday, the White House sent a letter dated July 10 to Congress saying it had resumed hostilities with Iran on July 7, restarting a 60-day clock where the U.S. can go to war with Iran without lawmakers' approval.
"I acted pursuant to my constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and as Chief Executive to conduct United States foreign relations," Trump wrote in the letter addressed to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa), the president pro tempore of the Senate.
Trump announced earlier in the day on social media that the U.S. was "reinstating THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE," adding "all other countries will have fair and open use of the Strait." But the U.S., as the new "guardian of the strait" would impose a 20% fee on all cargo transiting the waterway.
Critics said such a move would violate the decadeslong norm of the U.S. supporting free and uninterrupted trade on the open seas. It would also counter remarks by senior officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, that charging tolls in common waters violated international law.
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates' Defense Ministry said in a post on X Monday that two U.A.E. tankers were targeted by two Iranian cruise missiles in the Strait of Hormuz in Omani territorial waters. One crew member was killed and eight others were injured in the attacks, the ministry said.
Write to Alexander Ward at alex.ward@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 13, 2026 19:29 ET (23:29 GMT)
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