US President Donald Trump bombed Iran for the second consecutive night on Wednesday after complaining on social media that Tehran has taken too long on peace negotiations and vowing to respond to the downing of an American military helicopter.

US Central Command said Tuesday that CENTCOM “forces began launching self-defense strikes against Iran at 5:00 pm ET today at the commander in chief’s direction, in response to yesterday’s downing of a US Army Apache helicopter. The mission is a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression."

Trump took to his Truth Social platform just after 7:00 am ET Wednesday, writing that “Iran’s Military is a complete and total mess. Much of it, like their Navy and Air Force, doesn’t even exist anymore—They have been completely defeated. Iran is all talk and no action. The Bully of the Middle East is DEAD!!! They’ve taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!”

Ken Roth, a visiting professor at Princeton University and the former longtime executive director of Human Rights Watch, noted that Trump’s complaint about the drawn-out talks with Iran came “even though he is the one who ripped up an entirely effective deal... and in February ended negotiations to start bombing.”

See also: ‘Betrayal of the Working Class’: Trump War of Choice in Iran Pushes Inflation to New 3-Year High

Trump unilaterally ended the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, during his first term. There has been no agreement in place since.

After Trump’s strikes on Tuesday night, Iran fired at Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan, which all host US troops. The recent exchanges cast further doubt on the ceasefire deal negotiated in April, after the American president’s genocidal threat against Iran.

Later Wednesday, CENTCOM announced that US “forces began launching additional self-defense strikes today at 5:15 pm ET against multiple targets in Iran at the commander in chief’s direction. The strikes are in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression.”

Drop Site News reported that “as the strikes were announced, Iranian media reported a series of explosions across Hormozgan province, the southern Iranian province that borders the Strait of Hormuz,” a key trade route through which Iran has largely restricted ship traffic since Iran and Israel began bombing the country in late February.

As Drop Site detailed:

• Sirik: At least four explosions were heard in the coastal town on the eastern side of the strait, according to Tasnim News, with a local source saying the blasts were coming from the sea.

• Minab: An explosion was reported near the city, about 60 miles east of Bandar Abbas, according to Mehr News.

• Korgan Port: Several explosions were also heard near the port area on the Gulf of Oman coast, according to Mehr News.

• Bandar Abbas: An explosion was also reported in Iran’s main commercial port and naval hub overlooking the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Fars Gulf Broadcasting Center.

See also: Iran’s Attacks on Israel Were an Attempt to Shape the Region on its Own Terms – and it Might Just do so

Trita Parsi, co-founder and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and an expert on US-Iranian relations, said, “It appears the US/Israel-Iran war has started again... or perhaps more accurately, it never really ended.”

Fox News’ Trey Yingst reported on air late Wednesday that “President Trump told me that Iran called him tonight. Top Iranian officials and President Trump spoke directly, according to the commander in chief tonight, as the president was sitting in the Situation Room, and he told me that the Iranians asked them to stop bombing, and the president said to me, ‘The bombing will stop shortly.’”

According to Reuters, Iran’s media contradicted that reporting, with an unnamed senior Iranian official saying, “Trump’s false claim that Iranian officials contacted him is a cover to evade war with Iran.”

Asked by Yingst what will happen if the Iranians don’t sign a new deal soon, Trump reportedly responded, “We’ll bomb the shit out of them tomorrow night.”

[KS]

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