Iran: A new banner depicting Trump lying in a coffin in Tehran

A huge banner depicting Donald Trump lying in a coffin was installed in central Tehran, a symbol of escalating tensions between Iran and the United States. On the ground, the United States launched a wave of strikes against Iran on Wednesday, after reimposing a naval blockade, thus marking a return to war between the two adversaries.

Nearly a month after signing a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the Middle East war that began in February, the two sides resumed fighting by launching strikes against targets across the region.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they targeted the US 5th Fleet in Bahrain, where the military said it intercepted attacks targeting civilian targets, while Jordanian armed forces claimed to have shot down three missiles launched from the Islamic Republic.

US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, warned that he threatened to expand the strikes next week to target power plants and bridges unless Tehran returns to the negotiating table.

“Next week, the situation is really going to get worse for them,” he told Fox News. Despite the resumption of hostilities, the talks mediated by a mediator between the two sides have not officially ended.

At the heart of the renewed hostilities is the dispute over the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway essential for global oil and gas flows.

The agreement has been "dismantled"

Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz after the massive attack launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, using it for months as leverage against its adversaries before briefly reopening it, then reaffirming that it would remain closed "until the United States ends its aggression."

The United States, for its part, has reinstated its own blockade on Iranian ports, even though Trump has backtracked on his plan to impose a 20% tax on ships using the strait.

Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the resumption of the US blockade "has, in a way, nullified the Islamabad memorandum," referring to the interim agreement reached last month to end hostilities and continue peace talks.

A few days after the resumption of hostilities, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) stated that it had launched "a wave of strikes... aimed at further weakening the military capabilities used by Iranian forces to attack commercial maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz."

Iranian state media reported explosions near the port city of Bandar Abbas, on Qeshm Island, and in Bandar Imam Khomeini. They later reported that further US airstrikes had hit the southern port city of Bushehr, home to the country's only civilian nuclear power plant.

In Tehran, the capital, there was no sign of a return to conflict: Iranians flocked to cafes to watch the World Cup semi-final between France and Spain, as observed by AFP journalists.

But in Kuwait, which was targeted repeatedly throughout the war, the population was worried.

“Every day I wake up wondering if the situation will calm down or worsen,” said Mustafa Mohamed, a 39-year-old Sudanese accountant living in the Gulf country. “It has become difficult to feel calm or to make plans, because uncertainty is eating away at everyone.”

George Atef, a 38-year-old Egyptian civil servant stationed in Kuwait, said: "What exhausts me most is not knowing when this situation will end — the waiting itself has become exhausting."

Trump removes the tax

Since the beginning of the war, Iran has asserted its control over the Strait of Hormuz and has opened fire on ships that used routes it considers unauthorized.

"The retaliatory operations carried out by the fighters will continue, and the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the United States ends its acts of aggression," the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said.

A Norwegian oil tanker was hit by an explosion caused by an unidentified device off the coast of Oman early Tuesday morning, crisis management firm MTI Network said.

Kuwait, for its part, stated that one of its warships had been hit in a salvo of Iranian missiles and drones, wounding four crew members.

Trump, for his part, declared that he was abandoning the planned tax on ships transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, which he had announced on Monday, to replace it with trade agreements with his Gulf allies.

"I have decided to replace the 20% refund fees imposed by the United States with trade and investment agreements that the various Gulf States will conclude with the United States," Trump said in a message posted on his social network Truth Social.

Since last week, new US attacks have killed at least 30 people in Iran, said government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani.

In addition, the army announced that seven of its members had been killed in Wednesday's strikes in the southeast.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose country has not yet entered the war, warned Iranian leaders on Tuesday that Israel would deal them a severe blow if they launched an attack against his country.

Speaking from Dimona, a city in the south of the country where Israel's undeclared nuclear arsenal is generally believed to be located, he told them: "Don't count on the situation remaining calm if you attack us."