Two ships were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz as President Trump told NewsNation that his next move on Iran could be to "annihilate" the regime — adding only that "we'll see" whether he orders it.
The strikes on the ships have not been claimed by any group, and no casualty figures have been confirmed. The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through which roughly one-fifth of the world's oil supply passes.
In the same stretch of interviews, Trump told Axios he is approaching a "major crossroads" in the conflict, and told another outlet the U.S. is "hopefully" nearing the end of the war. Those two signals — ending it, or escalating it — came within days of each other.
Separately, Saudi Arabia and the Houthis have traded strikes, widening a conflict that began with U.S. and Israeli operations against Iranian targets and has since drawn in regional actors.
The key question is what "annihilate" would mean in practice. The administration has not described the specific targets or timeline involved. Earlier rounds of strikes have focused on nuclear sites, military infrastructure, and senior commanders, in an air campaign that has so far stopped short of any stated goal of regime change.
Oil markets have been watching the strait closely. Any sustained disruption to shipping there would affect global crude prices, and by extension U.S. gasoline prices. Tanker traffic has already slowed in recent days, though the extent of the disruption is not yet clear.
Trump's comments leave the immediate path unresolved: a negotiated off-ramp, or a wider campaign. Officials have given no date for a decision, and no details on what conditions would trigger the more severe option.