By STEPHEN M. LEPORE, US SENIOR REPORTER
President Trump said he was saving a devastating attack on Iran’s power plants and bridges for his next week unless Tehran comes to the negotiating table.
Trump told Fox News on Tuesday that US forces would ‘hit them very hard tonight, very hard tomorrow night’ in a brutal campaign that won’t stop until he says ‘enough.’
‘I’ll save the energy targets for last, but ultimately we’ll hit energy targets,’ Trump warned.
‘We’re going to hit them very hard the night after, and then next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants.’
Trump also said the US would target bridges next week unless Iran was willing to negotiate a peace deal that included giving up their nuclear ambitions.
He vowed the attacks will continue ‘until I say it’s enough.’
In an update late on Tuesday night, CENTCOM advised another round of strikes had been completed, hitting dozens of military targets near the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian coastal areas.
‘US fighter aircraft, drones, and naval vessels launched precision munitions against Iranian missile and drone sites, naval capabilities, and coastal defense systems during the seven-hour wave to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping and civilian crews,’ the update said.
US forces resumed the naval blockade against vessels transiting to or from Iranian ports and coastal areas.
The latest US bombing campaign comes after Trump notified Congress that the war would resume after Iran breached the memorandum of understanding by targeting commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Donald Trump compared Iran to a boxer that they’ll stop hitting when ‘I say its enough’ as the US continued a week full of strikes on Tehran
In an interview with Fox News Channel, the president said the US plans to launch at least two more days of strikes against Iran and that such attacks will continue ‘until I say it’s enough’
Trump did not rule out using US ground forces to ensure that his key objectives are met, especially when it comes to removing Iran’s enriched uranium.
US forces had been careful not to harm Iran’s civilian population with strikes, but Trump warned Iran that everything was on the table.
‘You better make a deal, or you’re not going to have anything left,’ he said.
The President also likened Iran to ‘a great boxer’ that needed to be put to the mat.
‘You think you have them beat, then they’ll come back and give you a shot,’ Trump said.
Trump suggested later in the interview with Fox News that he wasn’t interested in continuing negotiations immediately with Iran because ‘they lie.’
He also said the last contact he had with negotiators was an hour ago.
The President praised his Cabinet for its work on the Iran issue, including Pete Hegseth, as he said ‘oil is flowing like never before.’
He also announced he was replacing the 20 percent fee the US was charging on the Strait of Hormuz to various Gulf States.
A still image from handout video released July 14, 2026 said to show a drone being launched by Iran from an unknown location to attack U.S. positions at Azraq base in Jordan
Members of the public attend a memorial ceremony service for the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at the Grand Mosalla of Tehran
‘Those Investments will be MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,’ he wrote on Truth Social.
The US military says it has reimposed its blockade of Iranian ports in response to Iran’s attacks on commercial ships on the Strait of Hormuz, as the interim ceasefire deal unravels.
There are at least 19 warships in the northern Arabian Sea, including two aircraft carriers, and an amphibious assault ship with more than 1,000 Marines aboard, to enforce the blockade.
US Central Command also said that there are ‘hundreds of military aircraft operating across the Middle East,’ in a social media post Tuesday.
The US military strikes that are hitting Iran just an hour ahead of the start of the naval blockade are aimed at limiting the country’s ability to strike merchant shipping, the military said.
According to a social media post by U.S. Central Command, the military is trying to ‘continue degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping.’
The blockade goes into effect at 4pm eastern time and, according to U.S. Central Command, the strikes began at 3pm.
Iranian state media, meanwhile, reported the sound of explosions in the southwestern city of Ahvaz and the southern port city of Bandar Abbas. The reports did not immediately provide further details.
It comes as nearly a dozen civilians have been killed, injured or are missing following Iranian attacks on seven commercial ships over the last week, the US military said Tuesday, as fighting escalated between the US and Iran.
Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads US Central Command, said in a statement that Iran also launched dozens of missiles and drones at neighboring Gulf countries.
‘US forces are holding Iran accountable for unwarranted aggression that continues to endanger innocent lives,’ Cooper said.
The US has reimposed its blockade of Iranian ports in response to Iran’s attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping corridor in the Middle East, as an interim ceasefire deal unravels and concerns grow about a return to all-out war.
The US had carried out another wave of strikes ahead of reimposing the blockade, the US military’s Central Command said.
The truce between the two nations collapsed last week when Iran struck three vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and the US retaliated with two rounds of strikes.
Trump pronounced the deal dead from the NATO summit in Ankara: ‘There’s something wrong with them. They’re cuckoo. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over.’
The Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf chokepoint carrying about a fifth of the world’s oil, has been a central flashpoint since the war began in February, sending markets spiraling with every escalation.
Brent crude vaulted above $86 a barrel after Tuesday’s strikes, piling onto Monday’s 8 percent leap as traders braced for a chokehold on the world’s most vital oil artery.
Over the last week, Iran has targeted various Middle Eastern countries that host US military bases, claiming responsibility for strikes in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar.
Some of the targets attacked by US forces included missile and drone sites, naval capabilities, ammunition storage facilities, and communication networks.
Original source: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15977909/Trump-warns-strikes-against-Iran-continue.html