The United States is carrying out new bombing strikes against Iran, as fighting escalates and Iran warns the US that it has a military response ready if the US continues attacks.
"The United States is, as we speak, striking Iranian Targets near the Strait of Hormuz," President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday afternoon.
"If the enemy wants us not to export oil from the Persian Gulf, no one will be able to export oil," Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said in a statement Tuesday, apparently threatening world energy supplies and supply lines.
Of today's attack, President Trump wrote in rebuttal, "If the failed Nation of Iran retaliates for this very justified attack, they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level, but it will not be the biggest attack of them all, that is waiting in the wings and, when it is over, there will be very little left of the Islamic Republic of Iran!"
The price of oil has been up nearly 5-percent on Tuesday, with West Texas Intermediate at about $90 a barrel and international benchmark Brent at about $94.50.
Explosions have been heard Tuesday in key areas along the coast of Iran facing the Strait of Hormuz, with US Central Command confirming it's ongoing airstrikes in the area.
The US and its allies have been applying sanctions pressure against the Islamic Republic of Iran to degrade its economy as a way of forcing Iran to surrender in the now-6-month-old war.
In the past three days, Iran and the US have exchanged fire after tensions began to rise when two oil tankers were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend.
As Iran threatens the US with continued retaliation including attacks on American interests many miles away in the nation of Jordan, Central Command has been promising to "hit back hard."
Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday publicly thanked Russia for its backing on the war, suggesting that the two nations should remain friends aligned against Western. “unilateralism.”
Iran has also publicly thanked China in the past for its help against the US in the war, and has also gained help and cooperation from the Republic of North Korea.