President Donald Trump threatened to bomb and destroy a bridge or power plant in Iran — including sites in or near Tehran — for every Iranian attack on a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, escalating his rhetoric after warning a day earlier of possible strikes on the Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site near Natanz.
The ultimatum followed a night of intensified exchanges: US Central Command said it struck Iranian military operations centres, drone storage facilities, air hangars and logistics infrastructure, while air defences were activated over Tehran and explosions were heard in Bushehr. Iran's Revolutionary Guard claimed attacks on US targets in Jordan, and Iran's military said it launched drone strikes on a US base in western Kuwait, with retaliatory hits also reported in Bahrain and Qatar. The US military death toll has risen to 18 since hostilities began on 28 February.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth put the conflict's cost at $37.5 billion and requested an additional $67 billion from Congress. Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen announced a blockade of Saudi oil shipments through the Red Sea. US intelligence assessments indicate 11 days of renewed strikes have not altered Iranian behaviour, and Iran's UN ambassador called US attacks on civilian infrastructure war crimes, drawing concern from UN Secretary-General António Guterres.