WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump threatened Saturday that Iran would “no longer exist” if the United States is forced to resume full-scale war with the Islamic Republic, after American forces carried out fresh strikes on Iranian military targets in retaliation for a drone attack on a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.

The exchange marked the latest and most serious test yet of a fragile ceasefire that has repeatedly come under strain since the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding earlier this month aimed at ending months of war and reopening one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes.

Trump’s warning on Truth Social

Trump confirmed the U.S. strikes in a post on Truth Social, framing them as a response to repeated Iranian violations of the ceasefire. “United States aircraft just struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites, for violating the Cease Fire Agreement, AGAIN!” Trump wrote.

He went further, issuing one of his starkest threats yet against the Iranian government. “There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started,” Trump wrote. “If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!”

What prompted the latest strikes

U.S. Central Command said the operation was launched in direct response to an Iranian drone attack on the Panama-flagged oil tanker Kiku, which was carrying roughly two million barrels of crude oil through the strait. According to CENTCOM, the strikes targeted “surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities, and minelayer capabilities,” hitting a total of 10 Iranian military targets at multiple locations in and near the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state media reported several explosions in the Sirik and Qeshm areas of southern Iran following the strikes.

Saturday’s operation followed a similar round of U.S. strikes carried out Friday in response to an earlier Iranian drone attack on a separate vessel, the Ever Lovely, a Singapore-flagged cargo ship. Trump had described that earlier Iranian strike as a “foolish violation” of the ceasefire, writing on Truth Social that one of the drones “solidly hit the upper deck of a large and very expensive Cargo Carrying Ship,” though the vessel was able to continue on its way after U.S. forces shot down three additional drones.

Iran’s retaliation in Kuwait and Bahrain

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responded to Saturday’s American strikes by launching what it described as joint missile and drone attacks against U.S. military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain. The IRGC said in a statement carried by Iran’s Press TV that the U.S. strikes amounted to a violation of “Clause 1 of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding” and warned that continued violations “will result in the complete halt of all diplomatic processes.”

The IRGC claimed it had “destroyed eight important US military facilities at the Ali al-Salem base in Kuwait and at the Fifth Fleet naval base in Port Salman in Bahrain,” and warned that any further American action would be met with a “crushing response.” The statement added, “Any enemy aggression, whatever the pretext, even against insignificant targets… will have a crushing response.”

Kuwait’s military said its air defenses were “engaging hostile missile and drone attacks” following the IRGC’s claims. In Bahrain, which hosts a major U.S. naval base, the interior ministry activated air raid sirens and urged residents to “remain calm and head to the nearest safe place.”

A U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity told Reuters there were no reported U.S. casualties or major damage to American facilities in the Middle East in the immediate aftermath of the Iranian attacks.

A pattern of escalation despite the ceasefire

Saturday’s clashes are the latest in a string of incidents that have repeatedly tested the truce reached between Washington and Tehran. Vice President JD Vance, who traveled to Switzerland the previous weekend for talks with Iranian counterparts, wrote on social media Friday that “Iran signed a ceasefire agreement. We have honored it,” adding, “If they have disagreements about how the MOU is being applied, they can pick up the phone. But violence will be met with violence.”

Iranian officials have pushed back on characterizations that their actions in the strait constitute ceasefire violations. Ebrahim Azizi, who heads the Iranian parliament’s national security commission, wrote on social media that “the Strait of Hormuz is governed by Iran, so: Respect the rules,” adding, “This is not a violation of the ceasefire; it is ceasefire management.”

Ongoing disputes over the strait

The renewed violence underscores unresolved disagreements between the U.S. and Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that in peacetime carries roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas exports. Iran imposed a blockade on the strait after the United States and Israel launched a bombing campaign against the country on February 28, an operation aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Shipping traffic through the strait has increased since Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed their memorandum of understanding earlier this month, but it remains well below prewar levels. Iran has continued to insist that vessels seek its permission before transiting the strait and use routes closer to its coastline, while the U.S. has encouraged ships to instead use a route closer to Oman. Under the terms of the memorandum, the two countries have 60 days to work out remaining details, including arrangements for shipping traffic and the future of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

Israel, which is not a party to the U.S.-Iran agreement, has criticized the memorandum for not securing a concrete commitment from Iran on its nuclear program.

Markets and Iran’s economy

Despite the latest flare-up, oil prices fell sharply Saturday on hopes that shipping traffic through the strait would continue recovering. The economic toll on Iran, meanwhile, continues to mount. The country’s official statistics agency reported Saturday that year-on-year inflation had climbed to 88.6%, up sharply from 68% in February, when the war with the U.S. and Israel first began.

With both sides continuing to trade strikes even as negotiators work behind closed doors on the terms of a lasting peace agreement, the durability of the ceasefire remains in serious doubt. Trump and Iranian officials have increasingly conducted much of their negotiating in public, trading threats and disputed claims of concessions, even as mediators continue working to prevent the fragile truce from collapsing entirely into renewed full-scale conflict.