Trump threatens to annihilate Iran after new exchange of attacks

Trump threatened to annihilate Iran on Saturday after U.S. forces struck Iranian targets for a second consecutive day, as both sides accused each other of violating a fragile ceasefire brokered by Pakistan in mid-June.

The escalation rattled global energy markets and threatened to collapse the peace process meant to end a war launched by the United States and Israel in February.

Why did Trump threaten to annihilate Iran?

Trump issued the threat after U.S. aircraft struck Iranian missile and drone storage sites and coastal radar facilities, citing Iranian violations of the ceasefire. He warned on Truth Social that if the U.S. is "forced" to resume the war, "the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist." The strikes followed an Iranian drone attack on a Panama-flagged oil tanker carrying roughly 2 million barrels of crude.

What did Iran do in response to US strikes?

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Sunday they carried out retaliatory strikes for a third consecutive day, targeting U.S. military facilities in Kuwait and Bahrain. The Guards said the strikes "destroyed eight important US military facilities" at the Ali al-Salem base in Kuwait and the Fifth Fleet naval base in Bahrain's Port Salman. Air raid sirens sounded twice in Bahrain on Sunday, according to the Gulf nation's interior ministry.

The Guards also announced measures to control traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway through which a large share of global oil exports pass. Tehran said the only authorized passage runs through a corridor along Iran's coast, and that vessels violating this route "would be dealt with more firmly than before."

Did Iran threaten to close the Strait of Hormuz?

Iran stopped short of formally closing the strait but imposed strict passage conditions. Under the June memorandum of understanding, Iran had agreed to allow "safe passage of commercial vessels with no charge, for 60 days only" between the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman. Ships have continued to move through the strait, with some using routes Tehran has not authorized.

H.A. Hellyer of London's Royal United Services Institute said Iran is likely to continue "calibrated, low-level coercive activity" in and around the strait to sustain pressure on international shipping without triggering a wider conflict. He added that U.S. midterm elections in November give Washington incentives to reach a quicker agreement, while a drawn-out negotiation accompanied by controlled pressure in the strait "can work to Iran's advantage."

What is the Pakistan-brokered ceasefire deal?

A memorandum of understanding reached in mid-June under Pakistan's mediation committed both the United States and Iran, along with their respective allies, to refrain from initiating any war or military operation against each other. The text explicitly prohibits the threat or use of force. Both sides have since accused the other of breaching those terms, with Iran calling U.S. strikes "a blatant violation" of the interim truce.

Washington had carried out similar strikes on Friday in response to an earlier Iranian attack on another vessel, the "Ever Lovely." The back-to-back exchanges have deepened doubts about whether the ceasefire can hold long enough for a permanent agreement to be reached.

How is Lebanon's conflict affecting the US-Iran ceasefire?

Lebanon was drawn into the broader Middle East war in early March, when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in support of Iran, provoking an Israeli invasion. Israel and Lebanon signed a U.S.-backed peace agreement on Friday, but Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem rejected it the following day, calling it "humiliating, shameful and a surrender of sovereignty."

Qassem instead called for full implementation of the U.S.-Iran deal, which includes an end to fighting in Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the Lebanon agreement historic and "a blow to Iran and Hezbollah," but his far-right security minister Itamar Ben Gvir denounced it as "a big mistake." Netanyahu has insisted Israeli troops will remain in the security zone they occupy in southern Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed, complicating any path to a lasting regional settlement.