Iran Executes Two Men Convicted of Links to ISIS

The United States conducted a third consecutive night of airstrikes targeting Iran, hitting locations such as coastal Bushehr and Bandar Abbas. President Donald Trump declared his intention to reimpose a blockade on Iranian ports and implement a 20 percent levy on cargo transiting the vital Strait of Hormuz. These actions escalate tensions significantly in the region.

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We're going to hit them very hard tonight, and we're going to hit them hard tomorrow.

Trump stated that the US military's mission aimed to "degrade Iran's ability to attack commercial shipping." The announcement of the Hormuz blockade and cargo fee drew sharp criticism from Iran, which accused the US of "piracy." US Central Command confirmed that Iranian ports on the waterway would be blockaded starting at 2000 GMT on Tuesday.

In retaliation, Iran's Revolutionary Guards announced they had fired missiles and drones on Bahrain. Earlier, Iran had struck two ships in the Strait of Hormuz, resulting in the death of one crew member, according to the United Arab Emirates. Tehran also launched attacks on other US allies, including Jordan, which reported shooting down four missiles from Iran.

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Tell the Iranians to be ready. Let them know we're coming (and) there's not a damn thing they can do about it.

These developments follow President Trump's formal notification to Congress that the United States had resumed military conflict against Iran. The escalating conflict has led to a sharp rise in oil prices, with fears of renewed conflict pushing prices up more than nine percent on Monday and continuing to climb. Trump also threatened to destroy a deeply buried nuclear site near Natanz, asserting that the US would be "known as 'THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT'."

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We're going to hit them very hard tonight, and we're going to hit them hard tomorrow.