President Donald Trump threatened to strike bridges and power plants in Iran if its forces targeted any more ships in the Strait of Hormuz from Wednesday onward, as the prospect of a prolonged conflict pushed the price of oil to its highest level in over a month.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said U.S. forces would hit the civilian infrastructure “any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship” in the strait, including by targeting sites in or around Tehran, the capital. Such strikes could be considered a war crime under international law. The president’s threat came after similar ones he has made in recent days.

The latest escalation also came as Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States would continue the war for as long as Iran tried to exercise control over the waterway, a major conduit for global oil and gas supplies before the war. Iran’s attacks on vessels in the strait have brought ship traffic there to a near-total halt.

While Rubio left the door open for diplomacy after another night of U.S. and Iranian strikes across the Persian Gulf, he told reporters in Manila, Philippines, that Iran at this point was “not serious about talks,” arguing that the government in Tehran had violated a preliminary agreement that says it should allow ships to transit the strait.

“When those commitments are not kept, which is what’s happened in this particular case, then there will be consequences,” Rubio told reporters during a trip to the Philippines, where he was meeting with top Asian diplomats. Iran says the agreement gives it authority over shipping through the waterway.

With no sign of letup from either side, the price of Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, jumped over 4% to around $95 a barrel Wednesday.

U.S. Central Command said Wednesday morning local time that its latest round of attacks on Iran, now in their second week, lasted 75 minutes. That was shorter than previous overnight barrages, and the targets included maritime capabilities, aircraft hangars and drone storage facilities. Iranian state media reported attacks in several parts of the country, including in places that host air bases and air-defense facilities.

The Iranian military said in statements carried by the country’s state news media early Wednesday that it had targeted U.S. military facilities in Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties from the U.S. military or the authorities in any of the three countries.

Signs of diplomatic efforts to end the war have been muted. Iran’s interior minister met Tuesday with Pakistan’s prime minister and army chief in Islamabad, the capital. Pakistan has been brokering negotiations between the United States and Iran.

Here’s What Else We’re Covering:

— Shipping charges: Two of the world’s biggest shipping firms said Tuesday that they would impose emergency fuel surcharges to compensate for a surge in fuel prices after the resumption of hostilities in the Strait of Hormuz.

— Red Sea: The Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen has declared a Red Sea blockade on Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally that has long used the waterway to export oil. Though it remained unclear how the Houthis would follow through on the threat, it added to jitters in the global oil market and fears of a wider regional war. Two oil tankers in that sea made U-turns Tuesday, according to Kpler, a maritime data company.

— Nuclear deal: The Trump administration plans to announce Wednesday that it has reached a broad nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia that could lead to the country enriching its own fuel for nuclear reactors, U.S. officials told The New York Times.

— U.S. casualties: The Pentagon identified an active-duty Army soldier who is believed to have died in a recent attack on an air base in Jordan that killed two other Americans.

—

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Edward Wong, Yan Zhuang and Leo Sands/Kenny Holston
c. 2026 The New York Times Company