The U.S. launched a fresh round of attacks on Iran early Wednesday morning, hours after President Donald Trump warned military strikes would intensify next week if Tehran does not cooperate in peace talks. U.S. Central Command said in a post on X on Wednesday that it had begun launching a wave of strikes against Iran at 6 a.m. ET. "The strikes are designed to further degrade military capabilities Iranian forces have used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz," it said. In a later update, Centcom said Wednesday's attacks were completed at 7:30 a.m. ET, adding that precision munitions had been launched against Iran's coastal defense systems, and cruise missile storage and launch sites on Greater Tunb Island. The Tunb Islands are small islands located in the Persian Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz. Centcom had carried out more strikes against Iran on Tuesday. Tehran, meanwhile, has launched attacks on multiple Gulf countries. In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday evening, Trump hinted that the conflict was more likely to intensify than de-escalate as a fragile ceasefire agreed last month continues to fracture. "We're going to hit them very hard tonight," he said. "We're going to hit them hard tomorrow night. We're going to hit them really hard the night after." He added that U.S. forces would go on to target key Iranian infrastructure next week without a diplomatic breakthrough. "Next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants," he said. "Next week comes the bridges. We're going to knock out all their power plants. We're going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate." Trump threatened to impose a 20% levy on cargo shipped through the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week, before abandoning that demand on Tuesday. The president said the Gulf states would invest in the U.S. as repayment instead. The escalation in fighting comes after the U.S. launched strikes on dozens of Iranian targets last week, in retaliation for commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz coming under attack. Trump subsequently said the ceasefire between Washington and Tehran was "over." Oil prices edged higher on Wednesday morning, as concerns about safe transit through the Strait of Hormuz a critical oil shipping route in the Middle East lingered. Front-month global benchmark Brent crude futures held above the $85 per barrel mark. Speaking to CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" on Wednesday, Jakob Larsen, chief safety and security officer at international shipping body BIMCO, said the current situation is "not easy" for the industry to navigate. "All these messages going back and forth and changing direction completely just adds to the confusion and the complexity of the whole situation," he said. "If you take a step away and look at it from above, then the overall environment we're looking at is increased uncertainty, increased risks, and with that comes higher prices." Mike Rosenberg, a management professor at IESE Business School, told CNBC over email on...
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