Trump Bombs Iran Second Night In a Row As Negotiations Falter

President Donald Trump ordered another round of airstrikes on Iran Wednesday, with the U.S. military bombing targets inside the country for the second night in a row.

CENTCOM confirmed the strikes on X, saying, “U.S. Central Command forces began launching additional self-defense strikes today at 5:15 p.m. ET against multiple targets in Iran at the Commander in Chief’s direction. The strikes are in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression.”

Fox News’s chief national security correspondent, Jennifer Griffin, joined The Five to report on the latest developments.

“We’ve just confirmed with U.S. officials that airstrikes have begun against Iranian targets. Iranian state media is reporting that those strikes are being carried out on Kesham Island. We heard those strikes. Yesterday, at about this time, the same sort of airstrikes began — Kesham Island, Manab, Sirik. These are all port and coastal areas where the U.S. was taking out air defenses and radar systems just yesterday,” Griffin reported, adding:

Right now we can say that Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, was down at CENTCOM headquarters where he was being briefed by Admiral Brad Cooper this afternoon about potential targets. Earlier in the day, the president indicated and telegraphed that the airstrikes were likely to begin again tonight. Secretary Hegseth told reporters who were traveling with him that, in fact, the U.S. is willing to negotiate with bombs if need be.

And shortly thereafter, the airstrikes began. We can expect to see, I think, over the next few hours, a number of new targets hit inside Iran. Earlier today, Qatari negotiators were sent to Tehran to try and convince Iran’s leaders to get back to the talks, to agree to the terms that the U.S. had been discussing. Those negotiations have been stalled. Now, I think the feeling is that another night of airstrikes may bring the Iranians back to the table. But the last few weeks, and since the ceasefire, have proven to be very frustrating.

And there has been, as officials have described to me, less a ceasefire and more of a “less fire.” Earlier today, we know that the U.S. military also disabled a second oil tanker that was trying to make its way to an Iranian port. This was a Palau-flagged ship. It’s the second day in a row that they’ve done so. They’ve fired using precision munitions into the engineering cabins and the steering section of those oil tankers.

We also learned from the president earlier today that over the course of the last few weeks, over 100 million barrels of oil have been escorted through the Strait of Hormuz by U.S. Central Command. That had been a secret up until now. Iranians had not been able to see those oil tankers moving through in the cloak of darkness under CENTCOM’s watch. So, a lot happening right now. We expect another busy night for U.S. Central Command. And what was so unusual today was hearing both the president as well as Secretary Hegseth telegraphing that these airstrikes were about to begin. I can never remember in the past when the U.S. has said when the bombing was going to begin, so clearly this is designed to pressure the Iranian leaders to get back to the negotiating table.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.

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