Following the resumption of fighting between the U.S. and Iran over the weekend, the conflict is now threatening to again become a full-blown hot war. The U.S. launched strikes across Iran beginning mid-day Sep. 1, hitting roughly 100 targets across the country, officials told Axios. A number of deaths were reported in Iran. In addition, at least four were killed and 68 wounded when a U.S. strike hit a house holding a wedding in Sirik County.
Esmaeil Baghaei, the spokesman for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called it a “brutal” attack, and recalled the U.S. attacks on the school in Minab and sports hall in Lamerd on the first day of the war. U.S. Central Command spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins denied the claim of civilian casualties. “The U.S. military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC,” Hawkins said.
Trump told Fox News earlier in the day that Iran had “tried to rebuild their radar because they can’t see anything. We waited until it was almost built, and then we hit it.” A U.S. official told Axios the administration plans to periodically “mow the lawn” in Iran, claiming that the latest strikes bought a month of reduced threat to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Along with this, Trump again lashed out in frustration on social media: “I’m not trying to force Iran to the bargaining table… I couldn’t care less if they sign a worthless, to them, agreement. I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing. They are just playing out the inevitable. When are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight?”
In addition, Axios’s Barak Ravid reported that American drones attacked two Iranian government tankers anchored north of the naval blockade line, under what one official called a new “tanker for tanker” policy approved by Trump.
Tehran responded with strikes against U.S. assets in Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, and Iraq, though damage assessments remain unclear. Additionally, the IRGC claimed that two oil tankers hit mines in Hormuz and were disabled Sep. 2 while attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz, according to a statement shared on Iranian state media.
