The United States military launched another round of strikes against Iran for the second consecutive day late Wednesday night into Thursday morning. The military operation was described as “self-defense strikes” and came after failed efforts to agree to a peace deal and after Iran shot down a U.S. Apache helicopter. Renewed military strikes have bombarded […]
The US military launched strikes against "multiple" targets in Iran for the second straight day. These came after President Donald Trump accused the country of dragging out talks on an interim peace deal. The recent hostilities mark the most intense clashes between the US and Iran in weeks. Bloomberg's Abeer Abu Omar reports. (Source: Bloomberg)
Bloomberg Daybreak Europe is your essential morning viewing to stay ahead. Live from London, we set the agenda for your day, catching you up with overnight markets news from the US and Asia. And we'll tell you what matters for investors in Europe, giving you insight before trading begins. The US military launched strikes against “multiple” targets in Iran for the second straight day after President Donald Trump accused the country of dragging out talks on an interim peace deal. Global equities fell to a more than one-month low as a technology-led selloff deepened and the war in Iran showed little signs of ending. Oracle shares declined in extended trading after the company reported quarterly capital expenses that were higher than estimates, raising investor concerns about the profitability of the AI infrastructure business. Today's guests: Oscar de Bok, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding; Carsten Brzeski, Global Head of Macro Research, ING. (Source: Bloomberg)
The U.S. launched what it called “self-defense strikes” after an American helicopter was shot down by an Iranian drone over the Strait of Hormuz, as President Trump vowed Iran would “pay the price.” NBC News’ Gabe Gutierrez reports.
The U.S. military launched strikes on Iran on Wednesday for the second consecutive evening. U.S. officials said the intent was to pressure Tehran to sign a deal, but the strikes also carry a risk of military escalation.The big picture: U.S. officials said they expected an Iranian response, possibly targeting U.S. bases, as happened Tuesday. Tehran announced Wednesday night its military had targeted the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain with drones in response to the latest American strikes — though it wasn't immediately clear whether it had struck anything.President Trump has accused Tehran of "playing us for suckers" in negotiations, and said he decided something had to give.U.S. Central Command said the strikes "against multiple targets in Iran" in response to "Iran's unwarranted and continued aggression" began at 5:15pm ET and concluded about four hours later.A U.S. official told Axios all targets were in southern Iran and included air defense systems, radar systems, and drone command and control units."U.S. Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy assets fired precision munitions on Iranian targets that posed a threat to U.S. forces and international commercial ships transiting regional waters," CENTCOM said on X.Driving the news: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told reporters Wednesday during a visit to CENTCOM headquarters in Florida that "CENTCOM will be busy tonight because we are going to hit Iran hard.""Iran has a chance to make a great deal. They haven't been willing to do it," Hegseth said. "They are going to have tap, tap, tap bombs dropping on key facilities in Iran from the U.S. It is not to restart the war but to set the terms for a deal.""If we need to negotiate with bombs, we will negotiate with bombs," he said. "We will strike them hard tonight and hopefully Iran makes a good decision."Trump met with his national security team Wednesday afternoon to discuss military options, hours after telling reporters the U.S. would "hit them again hard today," two U.S. sources said.The other side: Iran's Tasnim News Agency cited a military source as promising "heavy responses." Although it wasn't immediately clear whether the Iranian drones had hit the 5th Fleet, Bahrain's Interior Ministry said on X that alarm sirens had sounded.Earlier on Wednesday, Iran's president claimed Trump's threats showed not strength, but "desperation."The U.S. struck Iranian radar and air defense sites Tuesday evening in response to the downing of a U.S. helicopter, but those strikes were calibrated to avoid casualties and leave open the possibility of a deal.Iran responded by firing a relatively small number of missiles and drones toward U.S. bases.Trump met Wednesday with officials including Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine and White House envoy Steve Witkoff, two U.S. sources said. Hegseth joined the meeting from CENTCOM headquarters.The sources said one option Trump was considering was an operation that would be big in scale but short in duration, with the aim of pressing Iran to change its position in the negotiations. The sources did not provide specifics.Behind the scenes: Trump had been growing increasingly frustrated over nearly two weeks of waiting for an Iranian response to his latest offer.Go deeper
Two days of strikes followed downing of US Apache helicopter over the strait of Hormuz, which Trump has blamed on Iran – key US politics stories from Wednesday 10 June at a glanceThe US has launched new strikes against targets in Iran for the second consecutive day, following through on Donald Trump’s promise to “hit them hard again” as a two-month-old ceasefire appears close to collapse.US Central Command announced in a statement that forces began “launching additional self-defence strikes today at 5:15 p.m. ET [10.15pm UK time on Wednesday] against multiple targets in Iran at the Commander in Chief’s direction”. Continue reading...
"We hit them hard yesterday and we’re going to hit them hard again today," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
The U.S. military said it launched new attacks on Iran on Wednesday, with President Trump saying it's time for the regime to "pay the price." Ed O'Keefe reports.
President Donald Trump has put himself in a "weak" position in his war against Iran, the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote in an analysis published on Wednesday."For nine weeks, the cease-fire has let Iran dictate events in the Gulf," wrote the board. The way things have progressed, they argued, Iran itself "gets to start each 'skirmish' — shooting at U.S. forces, U.S. allies, or commercial ships — and then decide when the exchange ends," all while attacking Israel through its Hezbollah proxies in Lebanon and using the conflict there as "an excuse to stall talks with the U.S."Through all this, the board wrote, Trump has downplayed Iran's offensives, calling fire on U.S. troops "a trifle," an Iranian bombing of a Kuwaiti airport “not a big deal,” and even saying something almost identical about the Iranian downing of an Apache helicopter.Ultimately, wrote the board, "Mr. Trump limited Israel’s strikes and previewed his own in public. When the U.S. says 'proportional,' Iran hears 'weak.' Offering the regime such forward guidance signals that Mr. Trump still fears a return to war" — all of which tells Iran they have wide latitude to continue violating the ceasefire with minimal to no response from the U.S. military."Mr. Trump won’t want to hear it, but he has been dancing to Iran’s tune," the board concluded. "He will have to break from it or go down as losing the war politically despite the early military gains."This comes as the latest round of talks to resolve the war fail, and new economic data shows inflation surging again as the Strait of Hormuz and much of the world's oil shipping remain blocked.