The US launched more strikes near Tehran and across Iran on Wednesday night and fired at a ship they accused of trying to break through their blockade on Iran’s Strait of Hormuz.
Tensions escalated as Iran retaliated early Thursday by issuing drone attacks on US military targets in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.
President Trump threatened to ‘just finish it off’ on Wednesday while speaking at the US Army War College in Pennsylvania.
‘They don’t like what we’re doing, and they do want to settle,’ he said about Iran on Wednesday.
‘We’ll find out whether or not we settle with them, or we just finish it off.’
The American attacks late Wednesday targeted Semnan province, home to Iran’s ballistic missile production facilities and space program, according to state media.
The US military was also forced to defend their naval blockade by firing on a Curacao-flagged oil tanker Belma.
The ship was headed towards the Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal in the Persian Gulf, and ‘ignored multiple warnings.’
A US aircraft disabled the vessel by striking the ship’s smokestack with a missile, said officials.
