For the second straight day, the US and Iran have traded retaliatory military strikes across the Middle East, pushing an already fragile April ceasefire to the brink of collapse.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed a fresh wave of “self-defense strikes” directly hitting radar, surveillance, and military facilities in southern Iran. The American bombardment followed a stark warning from US President Donald Trump, who declared that Washington would hit Iran “hard” because Tehran had taken “too long to make a deal” to halt hostilities permanently.

Iran is being hit harder than anything we’ve seen. pic.twitter.com/bwvB2aYaFJ

— USA NEWS (@usanewshq) June 11, 2026

Iran targets US bases in the Middle East

Tehran immediately struck back, targeting US military infrastructure across multiple neighboring countries. For a second consecutive day, American bases in Kuwait and Bahrain faced Iranian fire, while Iranian state media reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched ballistic missiles at a US command center in Jordan. The attacks forced Kuwait to temporarily shut down its airspace after its military intercepted “hostile aerial targets,” while air raid sirens sounded in the middle of the night in Bahrain.

The conflict has also spilled into vital global shipping lanes. Iranian state media claimed the IRGC struck two oil tankers and declared the strategic Strait of Hormuz “completely closed.” While CENTCOM countered that commercial maritime traffic was still successfully transiting the waterway, global energy markets panicked. Brent crude quickly jumped 2%, surging to around $95 a barrel.

The escalating rhetoric suggests no immediate end to the violence. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that bombs would continue to drop on Iran’s core facilities if a diplomatic resolution isn’t reached, a sentiment echoed by President Trump on Truth Social.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian stood defiant, vowing that Iran “will stand firm against any pressure or threat” while slamming Washington for sabotaging peace talks with contradictory diplomacy.

Iran now believes it is winning and will outla.st the United States