The United States and Iran continued armed clashes for a second straight day. Analysts describe it as a struggle for control over sea lanes between the US and Iran, whose routes through the Strait of Hormuz have split into two following the signing of a ceasefire memorandum of understanding (MOU).
On the 8th, the US military completed additional airstrikes targeting 90 Iranian military facilities in response to Iran's attacks on merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz. US Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, said via X (formerly Twitter) that day that it had "struck approximately 90 Iranian military targets along the Iranian coastline, including air defense systems, coastal surveillance assets, missile and drone storage facilities, naval assets, and military supply infrastructure." This strike by US Central Command was a second attack, following the previous day's strikes on more than 80 Iranian military targets, including over 60 small vessels of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Iran also carried out additional counterattacks against Kuwait and Bahrain. The IRGC said that day that it had "attacked two US military bases in Kuwait and two US military bases stationed in Bahrain." Earlier, Iran had struck 85 US military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait in retaliation immediately after the US attacked more than 80 Iranian military targets.
The US and Iran continued to exchange airstrikes. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported on the 9th that "the area around the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran was struck by a US projectile." Jordan's state news agency also reported that day that "a missile fired from Iran entered Jordanian airspace, triggering air raid sirens across Jordan." US military facilities in Jordan include the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in the north-central region.
US President Donald Trump drew a line, saying it was "not a resumption of all-out war," while emphasizing that he would respond firmly, stating that "Iran violated the ceasefire MOU in its entirety." Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on his way back to Washington after attending the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit, Trump claimed, "Iran called just a moment ago," adding, "They desperately want a deal."
Internal divisions criticizing the negotiating faction are growing more intense in Iran. The New York Times (NYT) reported that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, a central figure in the negotiating team, was chased into an alley during a funeral on the 6th and struck by a stone. Those who attacked Araghchi hurled insults at him. A video also circulated showing President Masoud Pezeshkian, who stands at the pinnacle of the negotiating faction, being surrounded the same day by what appeared to be a hardline crowd shouting "Death to the appeasers" and attempting to knock him down.
