U.S. renews strikes on Iran

U.S. forces launched additional strikes against targets in Iran June 10 after War Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly warned earlier in the day that American military action was imminent if Tehran failed to reach a nuclear agreement sought by President Donald Trump.

Speaking outside U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida, Hegseth said that Trump had given Iran an opportunity to reach what the secretary described as a favorable deal but that Tehran had not agreed to U.S. terms.

"Central Command will be busy tonight because President Trump said we will be hitting Iran hard, and we will be," Hegseth told reporters after receiving briefings from military leaders.

Hegseth said the planned strikes were intended to pressure Iran into accepting an agreement that would prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

The secretary cited Trump’s earlier comments at the White House, where the President told reporters the U.S. would soon be “attacking [Iran]. Attacking them very hard." 

Asked if the U.S. would bomb Iran, Trump said, "Yeah, well, based on the helicopter, I guess we have a right to do that.” An Iranian drone downed a U.S. Army Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz earlier in the week. Both the crewmen aboard survived and are doing “okay,” Trump said.

"I've been working with Iran for a number of months,” Trump continued. “And they should sign that deal.” He described the deal as one that “totally prohibits them from ever having a nuclear weapon” and described Iranian negotiators’ responses to the proposal as “just tap, tap, tap – I don't know what they're doing."

“We hit ‘em hard yesterday, and we’re gonna hit ‘em again hard today,” Trump said. “We’ll see what happens with a deal. We were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along, they keep playing us for suckers because, you know what, they dealt with some very stupid presidents.”

Hegseth echoed the President when he announced the strikes hours later. "As President Trump said, they’ve been tap-tap-tapping. You can see when someone’s trying to tap-tap-tap on a deal. Instead they’re gonna have tap-tap-tap bombs dropping on key facilities in Iran from the United States of America," Hegseth said. He added that the military action was not intended to restart a broader conflict but to "set the terms" for a deal.

Hours later, U.S. Central Command announced that American forces had begun additional military operations.

"U.S. Central Command forces began launching additional self-defense strikes today at 5:15 p.m. ET against multiple targets in Iran at the Commander in Chief's direction," CENTCOM said in a statement. The command said the strikes were launched in response to Iran's "unwarranted and continued aggression."

>> U.S. strikes Iran after Iranian drone downs Apache helicopter near Hormuz Strait << 

Iranian military officials announced June 10 that the Strait of Hormuz had been closed to maritime traffic in response to the latest U.S. attacks.

Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said the strategic waterway was under military control and warned vessels against attempting passage. Iranian state media reported that the measure was a direct response to the U.S. strikes.

The United States has not confirmed Iran's claim that the strait has been fully closed.