Trump threatens further Iran strikes as death toll climbs to 18

President Trump stood before reporters at the White House on Wednesday and made a stark declaration: the United States could strike Iran "anytime we want." His words came as the death toll from the latest round of American military operations climbed to at least 18 people, with more than 100 others wounded. The strikes had targeted cities and coastal areas along Iran's southern shore, near the Strait of Hormuz—including, according to Iranian officials, a wedding celebration in the city of Kuhestak.

The exchange marked the heaviest military action between the two countries since July, part of a conflict now six months old. Iran responded to the American strikes with attacks on US military installations across the Middle East, hitting bases in Bahrain, Iraq, and Jordan. Trump characterized the US operation as devastating, claiming it had destroyed new Iranian military equipment positioned along the strait. He offered no timeline for de-escalation, only the promise of readiness for another round.

The human toll was immediate and specific. Iran's health minister, Mohammad-Reza Zafarghandi, confirmed that at least 18 people had been killed, including two children. One victim was a four-year-old struck in the Kuhestak wedding party attack, where at least four people died. The strike drew a sharp response from Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baghaei, who called it a war crime and challenged American claims of precision targeting. "The reality is so horrifying that even American propaganda has never dared make the claim the US military is making today," he wrote on social media. "Sirik is not a story. The civilians are real. The victims are real." A funeral for the four Kuhestak victims was scheduled for Thursday.

The war has imposed mounting costs on Trump's political standing at home. Only 31 percent of Americans approve of the conflict, while 63 percent disapprove, according to polling by Reuters and Ipsos conducted in August. Trump's own approval rating has fallen from 40 percent to 33 percent since fighting resumed. The economic damage is visible at gas pumps: Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, has climbed to roughly $95 per barrel, a jump of more than 30 percent since the war began. Voters have made clear their unhappiness, particularly over fuel prices. When asked about the political pressure, Trump insisted the upcoming midterm elections were not shaping his strategy. "My party is running, and I'm going to help my party," he told reporters. "But I think my party respects the fact that we're not allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon." Iran has consistently denied pursuing nuclear weapons.

The strategic picture, however, reveals a more complicated reality. Tariq Khan, a retired Pakistani lieutenant-general and former commander of the Pakistan Army's Frontier Corps, told Al Jazeera that the United States now occupies "an increasingly uncomfortable strategic position." The core problem: Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most critical shipping lanes. Before the war, roughly 130 vessels transited the waterway daily, carrying about one-fifth of globally traded oil. Tehran closed the strait in February after US and Israeli strikes, and despite repeated American claims that it remains open, only a handful of ships now pass through each day.

Iran has weaponized that control. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reported that two oil tankers struck mines and were disabled while attempting unauthorized passage. A Saudi shipping company reported that two Filipino sailors were killed in an attack on their vessel earlier in the week. Iran's newly established Persian Gulf Strait Authority added 11 more ships to its blacklist this week for alleged noncompliance, bringing the total to 56 vessels threatened with fines, seizures, or confiscation unless they submit documentation to Tehran. Trump claimed on Wednesday that US forces were escorting "lots of boats" carrying "millions of barrels of oil" out of the strait each day, and on Tuesday had asserted the Navy was helping move some 30 ships daily—a fraction of pre-war traffic.

Khan argued that Iran's strategy is not to achieve conventional military victory but to make the war prohibitively expensive for Trump. "If Trump escalates, Iran can portray America as being drawn deeper into another Middle Eastern war; if he restrains himself, Tehran can claim that American military superiority cannot compel Iran to surrender," Khan said. "Iran does not need a battlefield victory; it needs to remain standing, keep the economic disruption alive, and make the war politically costly for the US." The calculus is stark: Tehran must make American victory increasingly unaffordable—militarily, economically, and electorally. As the conflict stretches into its seventh month, both sides appear locked in a contest of endurance rather than resolution.