The U.S. military launched a new wave of airstrikes against multiple targets across Iran on Wednesday evening, with explosions reported from the Strait of Hormuz to the outskirts of Tehran, marking the second major round of American attacks in two days and the fulfillment of hours of threats from President Trump and his top defense official.

U.S. Central Command said its forces began launching additional self-defense strikes at 5:15 p.m. ET at the direction of the commander in chief, calling them a response to Iran’s “unwarranted and continued aggression.” Iranian outlets reported explosions and activated air defenses in Sirik, Minab, and on Qeshm Island in the southern Hormozgan province near the strait, as well as in Isfahan and western Tehran. Iran’s state broadcaster said air defenses were also triggered in Asaluyeh, a hub of the country’s energy industry.

Trump had convened his national security team in the Situation Room on Wednesday to weigh additional attacks, hours after posting that Iran had taken too long to negotiate and warning on social media, “now they will have to pay the price.” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, speaking earlier at CENTCOM headquarters in Tampa, vowed strikes that would be “strong and clear” and said the U.S. had used the ceasefire period to sharpen its intelligence gathering and target selection on Iran.

Wednesday’s barrage builds on a first round a day earlier. Those strikes hit Iranian air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz, retaliation for the downing of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter. Iran said it answered with 21 attacks on U.S. military targets across the Middle East.

Tehran signaled it would not absorb the new strikes quietly. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that any attack or threat against Iran would be met with a response, and the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency, citing a military source, said Iran would target additional U.S. interests if Washington kept up the attacks. President Masoud Pezeshkian said the country would “remain steadfast in the face of any pressure or threat.”

This is a developing story.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)