Get you up to speed: Trump warns of largest strikes on Iran yet as Tehran lashes out across Gulf
Iran launched missile and drone attacks on US military assets in Jordan, Bahrain, and Kuwait, including a telecommunications tower in Kuwait. The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed these actions as retaliation for ongoing US military strikes in the region.
The United States has conducted attacks on Iranian military infrastructure for 12 consecutive nights, targeting bridges and tunnels. Iran has threatened continued retaliatory strikes against US military assets and indicated that its attacks on Jordan and Kuwait were in response to the damage inflicted by US actions.
President Donald Trump stated he is “close to making a decision” on potentially launching the largest strikes on Iran yet, following Iranian missile and drone attacks across the Gulf. Meanwhile, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the situation is “teetering on the edge of the unimaginable,” as global oil prices surged past $100 a barrel amid escalating tensions.
What remains unclear — It is uncertain what specific actions the US plans to take in response to ongoing Iranian retaliatory attacks on its allies.
Trump hints at largest strikes on Iran as Tehran escalates attacks in Gulf
News|US-Israel war on IranTrump warns of largest strikes on Iran yet as Tehran lashes out across Gulf
The US president’s threat comes after another day of Iranian attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.
Published On 23 Jul 202623 Jul 2026
United States President Donald Trump says he may launch the largest strikes on Iran yet after Tehran carried out another wave of retaliatory attacks on US allies in the Gulf, including hitting a telecommunications tower in Kuwait.
In remarks to US news website Axios on Thursday, Trump said he was “considering a massive attack” that would be “bigger than ever before”.
“I am close to making a decision. We are all set for it,” Trump said.
The threat raises the stakes yet again in a weeks-long military confrontation in which the US has attacked Iran for 12 straight nights, including hitting bridges and tunnels, according to Iranian media reports.
Iran’s retaliatory attacks have rippled throughout much of the Gulf, sparking fears of a worsening energy crisis.
The spiralling conflict has all but destroyed an interim peace deal signed by the US and Iran last month.
‘Eye for an eye’
Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi warned on Wednesday that Tehran would retaliate “an eye for an eye” against any future attacks, including those on Iran’s infrastructure.
After another night of US attacks on Wednesday, Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait on Thursday.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the attacks in Jordan and Kuwait targeted and hit US military assets.
The IRGC also acknowledged attacking a telecommunications tower in Kuwait, saying it was in retaliation for US attacks on telecommunications towers in Iran.
In a statement addressing the Kuwaiti people directly, the IRGC insisted that the US, not Iran, had breached the Gulf state’s “territorial integrity and sovereignty”.
Later on Thursday, Kuwait said that its Abdali border crossing with Iraq had also come under attack by “hostile drones”.
“The armed forces’ retaliatory attacks will continue as long as the US attacks on the country’s infrastructure and coastal areas continue,” said the Iranian army’s spokesperson, Mohammad Akraminia.
Houthis attack Saudi tankers
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthi rebels further expanded the confrontation on Thursday by firing at two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea, leading to broad international condemnation and a spike in global oil prices.
“The situation is getting out of control. It is teetering on the edge of the unimaginable,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a meeting of the Security Council. “One crisis feeds another. One escalation triggers the next.”
The Houthis have declared a blockade of Saudi Arabian ports, destabilising a second key global shipping route: the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively shut since the US and Israel launched the war on Iran in late February.
Reporting from Sanaa, Yemen, WTX News’s Yousef Mawry cited Houthi sources as saying that the facilities of Saudi Arabia’s national oil company Aramco “could become a future target” of the Houthis if Riyadh does not lift its own blockade on Houthi-controlled ports.
The international oil benchmark Brent crude surged past $100 a barrel on Thursday for the first time in May, in what analysts said could have an even greater impact on the global economy.
“Much of the world’s spare production capacity has already been used, while strategic and commercial oil inventories are lower than when the war began, leaving the market with fewer buffers against a prolonged supply disruption,” said Janiv Shah, vice president of the Rystad Energy consultancy.