US, Iran exchange fresh attacks as hopes for quick peace deal fade
Published On 11 Jun, 2026
The second straight day of tit-for-tat strikes, with Iran targeting US bases across the Gulf, sent oil prices rising again.
US President Donald Trump, who had repeatedly said negotiations with Tehran were close to an end, said on Wednesday that Iran keeps “playing us for suckers” and will now “have to pay the price”.
Hours after, US Central Command (Centcom) said American forces began “additional self-defence strikes” at 5:15pm on Wednesday Washington time — early Thursday in Iran — in response to what it called Tehran’s “unwarranted and continued aggression”.
Iranian media reported explosions across the south near the Strait of Hormuz, with explosions heard in Bandar Abbas, Qeshm and Minab, and sources reporting hits by “enemy projectiles” in Kargan and Sirik.
Centcom said later that it had “completed” its strikes on “Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communication systems, and air defence sites”.
American forces “fired precision munitions on Iranian targets that posed a threat to US forces and international commercial ships transiting regional waters”, the command said.
The renewed hostilities came as Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said that if Trump required it, “we’ll negotiate with bombs, and we’re very good at it”.
