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A second – and bigger – barrage of air attacks by the United States has hit Iran in two days, as fragile peace talks between the two countries appear at risk of collapsing.
The US attacked several parts of Iran’s capital Tehran early on Thursday, just hours after hitting several cities in the southern part of the country on Wednesday. At least 14 people have been killed in the two days of attacks, including at least one member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
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Iran has fired back at US military assets and infrastructure in neighbouring Gulf countries.
The latest round of tit-for-tat strikes has erupted in the wake of Iran’s attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz earlier in the week.
The US attacks have come as the days-long funeral of late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, who was killed in US-Israel air strikes in the early minutes of the war back in February, is under way.
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump told reporters at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkiye, that he thought the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Iran was “over”. But he added that he might allow peace talks to continue for now, leaving the process in uncertainty.
Although Trump said the strikes would not result in “long-term” military action, there are growing fears that the two countries could escalate attacks and that the wider Middle East region could be drawn in once more.
Trump also claimed afterwards that “Iran wants to make a deal so bad,” yet observers are sceptical.
“The US faces a dead end with Iran, and they need to change their approach,” Alam Saleh, a professor of politics at the University of Bradford, told Al Jazeera. “Bombing is not working.”
Here’s what we know:
Why has the US launched a second night of attacks?
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it hit about 90 military targets across Iran on Thursday “to further degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping and innocent civilian mariners in the Strait of Hormuz”.
It is the largest such escalation since both sides signed the MoU in June.
On Wednesday, CENTCOM said it had struck about 80 Iranian military targets the night before as a response to Iran’s attacks on three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
Washington also revoked a sanctions waiver on Iranian oil that was part of the MoU.
US and Iranian media had reported on Tuesday that three vessels – the Marshall Islands-flagged, Qatar-owned M/T Al Rekayyat; Saudi Arabia-flagged M/T Wedyan; and Liberian-flagged M/T Cyprus Prosperity – had been attacked in the Strait.
Hossein Royvaran, a Tehran-based analyst, told Al Jazeera that tankers may have been attacked because they strayed into an area where Iranian teams were performing mine-clearing operations.
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has slowed to a near standstill.
In a statement, the IRGC said traffic had been restored to 50 percent compared to pre-war levels and blamed Washington’s “adventurism and interference” in determining routes for the current disruption.
“Foreigners have no stake in this land and in the Strait of Hormuz,” it added.
Movement in the crucial waterway is now largely confined to a northern route approved by Iran, while a corridor further south backed by Oman and the US sees little activity.
The head of the International Maritime Organization has reported that about 6,000 sailors remain trapped around the Strait of Hormuz.
“These reckless attacks have again placed innocent seafarers in grave danger. No seafarer should have to risk their life simply for doing their job,” Arsenio Dominguez was quoted by NBC News as saying.
“Behind the figures are seafarers, and in some cases their families, who continue to bear the human cost of this conflict.”
Where did the US strike?
On Thursday morning, the US hit the southern port cities of Bandar Abbas, Sirik, Kuhestak, Chabahar, Jask, Abu Musa island and Konarak.
Later in the day, several explosions were heard in Iran’s Bushehr province, the semi-official Mehr news agency reports. Bushehr is where Iran’s nuclear power plant is located. The ISNA news agency also reported a US strike on the city of Sirik, which hit a fishing pier killing three people and injuring 15 others, according to local authorities.
Although CENTCOM said it was aiming at military targets, Iranian media reported that Thursday’s attacks also hit civilian infrastructure, and possibly one hospital.
At least one person was killed when airport facilities were hit in Iranshahr, close to the border with Pakistan.
The IRGC said two bridges on the road to Mashhad – where the late Khamenei will be buried on Thursday – were hit. Iranian railway authorities announced that passenger train services on the Tehran-Mashhad railway were suspended on Thursday for repairs.
The Aq Taqeh Khan railway bridge, which links key trade routes from Tehran to China via Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan in the northern province of Golestan, was also hit, according to the Fars News Agency. The route was also used for cargo shipments to Russia during the US blockade on Iran’s ports.
Reports of a strike on an Iranian hospital have not yet been verified.
Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the dozens of US attacks, including on two railway bridges, calling Washington’s claim that they were in response to attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz a “false pretext”.
Wednesday’s US attacks hit Sirik, Qeshm island, Bushehr province and near the city of Bandar Abbas.
At least 14 people have been reported dead following the two days of attacks, and 78 were wounded across five Iranian provinces. Spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Health Hossein Kermanpour said on Thursday that 47 wounded people remain in hospital.
(Al Jazeera)Where did Iran strike back?
The IRGC retaliated with attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, where US military assets are located.
Sirens went off in all three countries on Thursday.
Reporting from Tehran for Al Jazeera, Resul Serdar Atas said Iranian strikes hit US military facilities Arifjan and Ali Al Salem in Kuwait, and Juffair and Sheikh Isa in Bahrain.
“They’re saying attacks conducted by the IRGC targeted a Patriot missile system in Kuwait, a satellite antenna in Qatar, and fuel depots of the US military in Bahrain,” Atas said.
“Officials are warning that if US strikes continue, the IRGC is going to expand its attacks to other US military bases across the region, in the other Gulf countries as well.”
A spokesperson for Kuwait’s defence ministry confirmed one person was injured. The injury was caused by falling debris, and the victim was taken to hospital.
Major-General Saud Abdulaziz al-Otaibi said Kuwait’s air defence system intercepted three ballistic missiles, one cruise missile and 10 suicide drones.
On Thursday, Jordan’s armed forces said they had intercepted eight Iranian missiles in its airspace after sirens sounded across the country. Falling debris did not cause any casualties or material damage, it added.
What has US President Trump said about peace talks?
Speaking at the NATO summit in Turkiye on Wednesday, Trump said the MoU signed between Washington and Iran on June 17 was “over” as far as he was concerned, but that he would allow US negotiators to continue engaging with the Iranians for now.
“For me, I think it’s over,” Trump said, prompting concerns that the war might resume and referring to Iranian leaders as “dangerous” and “sick”.
“They can talk, but I think they’re wasting their time,” Trump said of US negotiators.
Speaking on the presidential plane, Air Force One, on Thursday, the president appeared to backtrack from this position, telling reporters that returning to a full-scale war with Iran remained on the table but that Tehran “wants to make a deal”.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, responding to President Trump’s angry comments, said in a Wednesday post on X that Iran would not “answer vulgarity with vulgarity”.
Trump said the US had degraded Iran’s military and renewed threats to hit civilian infrastructure, including electric and desalination plants. He also threatened to seize the oil-production hub of Kharg island.
However, Trump added that the latest tit-for-tat fighting would not result in “long-term” military action and that “anything that happens is going to happen very quickly.”
After leaving the summit, Trump posted several videos on his Truth Social site of what he said were explosions in Iran.
“This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!” Trump wrote.
Saleh of the University of Bradford said Trump, having failed to subdue Iran militarily, is looking to use a “winner’s narrative” to compensate.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent listen as President Donald Trump speaks to the media on the day of a NATO leaders’ summit in Ankara, Turkiye, July 8, 2026 [Umit Bektas/Reuters]What is Iran saying?
Iran’s political leaders have condemned the new waves of strikes and sounded a defiant tone, denouncing US strikes as a “war crime”, and accused Washington of violating the interim deal aimed at ending the war.
Tehran has also launched a formal complaint against the US with the United Nations Security Council and the UN Secretary-General.
In a Thursday post on X, Parliament Speaker Muhammad Ghalibaf, a key negotiator in the ongoing talks, accused Washington of “bullying” tactics.
“America still hasn’t learned that bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost-free. Let me put it plainly: if you strike, you’ll get hit,” Ghalibaf wrote.
“Don’t flail around pointlessly, or you’ll sink even deeper: the Strait of Hormuz will only open with ‘Iranian arrangements,’ not American threats,” he added.
What does all this mean for peace talks?
On June 16, Iran and the US signed a Pakistan-brokered MoU that marked a halt to the fighting and triggered a 60-day peace talks process, due to expire on August 21.
Despite Trump’s comments at the NATO summit on Wednesday, neither side has officially called off the MoU.
In the agreement, the two sides ended military fighting on all fronts, including in Lebanon; allowed for ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz freely for at least 60 days; lifted the US naval blockade on Iranian ports; waived sanctions on Iranian oil; and planned for the release of frozen Iranian assets.
However, observers say the wording of the MoU is vague and open to interpretation.
Negotiations to reach a final deal were supposed to restart after the late Khamenei’s funeral, which ended on Thursday. The burial period was meant to be a period of lower tensions.
The next stage of talks is meant to focus on the stickiest matters: Reopening the Strait of Hormuz and dismantling Tehran’s nuclear programme.
However, Tehran does not trust the US because Washington has now attacked Iran three times while negotiations have been ongoing, Saleh said.
“Iran has no option but to use the Strait of Hormuz as leverage because this is a battle of survival,” he added.
Washington, he noted, ought to change its approach and say “we don’t need to be winners in this, but this should be a win-win situation for everyone.”
Which side has violated the MoU?
Both sides accuse the other of violating the MoU.
Iran claims the US has failed to honour its commitments by restarting attacks and failing to stop Israel’s attacks on and occupation of southern Lebanon. Washington, on the other hand, blames Tehran for failing to allow ships to safely transit the strait.
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, a lead negotiator, posted on X that Trump’s remarks “are not a sign of power but an admission of the failure” of the US.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry described “aggressive attacks” by the US military on sites throughout southern coastal provinces and two railway bridges as “a grave war crime”. The ministry accused the US of breaching Articles 1 and 5 of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on ending the war.
Analysts say the disagreement over the interpretation of Article 5 of the MoU, which concerns control of the Strait of Hormuz, is the biggest sticking point.
Article 5 calls for Iran to reopen the strait and allow the immediate recommencement of commercial traffic – hundreds of ships stranded since February to pass freely through – for 60 days.
About one-fifth of global oil supplies were being shipped through the narrow passageway before the US-Israel war on Iran began on February 28. However, since the war, Tehran has sought to impose control over the strait and use it as strategic leverage at the negotiating table. Iran’s blockade of the strait triggered a global energy crisis.
Following the MoU signing, Iran has pushed back on attempts by Oman and the UN to establish a new safe route for stranded ships, insisting that under the agreement, it has sole managerial responsibility.
In late June, Tehran attacked two ships for using an “unauthorised” route, triggering low-scale US strikes on June 26 on areas along the strait. Iran retaliated against US assets in Kuwait and Bahrain.
Mourners gather in the street before the funeral of Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and members of his family at the Shrine of Imam Reza, Iran’s most revered place of worship, in Mashhad on July 9, 2026 [AFP]
