U.S.-Iran Conflict Escalates as Trump Abandons Peace Memorandum Following New Strikes

The U.S. military has completed a wide-scale air campaign against Iranian assets, striking more than 80 targets in southern Iran, including Sirik, Qeshm, and Bandar Abbas. The operation, confirmed by U.S. Central Command, targeted air defense systems and over 60 IRGC small boats in response to recent Iranian attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. In immediate retaliation, Iran claimed to have targeted 85 U.S. military installations in Bahrain and Kuwait, triggering air raid sirens across both host nations. Diplomatically, the fragile peace process has fractured at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. President Trump officially declared the June memorandum of understanding (MoU) "over," signaling an end to the ceasefire that had held since late February. While the President noted that negotiators could "keep talking" if necessary, he used the summit to criticize NATO allies for failing to provide adequate support in the U.S. confrontation with Tehran. The economic fallout was immediate, with oil prices jumping more than 5% following the U.S. decision to revoke a sanctions waiver that previously allowed Iran to sell oil on the international market. The renewed hostilities and the collapse of the MoU have halted peace negotiations intended to reopen the Hormuz corridor, raising fears of a full-scale kinetic war and further humanitarian collapse in the region.