US begins new Iran strikes as Trump says he will charge to use Strait of Hormuz

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The U.S. announced a new round of strikes on Iran on Monday, hours after President Donald Trump said Washington is “reinstating” a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and, in a seeming policy reversal, will charge other ships for safe passage.

All of that comes as Iran has insisted it actually controls the critical waterway, and as the new exchange of fire threatened a return to all-out war.

U.S. Central Command announced on social media that the U.S. military had begun another round of strikes against Iran. “These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” the U.S. military said.

The new round of attacks followed Trump telling conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, “We’re going to hit them very hard tonight and we’re going to hit them hard tomorrow — and there’s not a damn thing they can do about it.” “They have nothing,” Trump added. “They have nothing going, other than they have big mouths.” They follow