U.S. bombs Iran for second straight night
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left), President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during a Cabinet meeting in May. Photo: Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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.
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.
What they're saying: CENTCOM said on X just after 9pm ET that it had completed the strikes.
- "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.
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: Trump boils over after Tehran kept him waiting
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional details throughout.
