As soon as the American bombs fall silent, Iran strikes again. The situation threatens to escalate again.
July 29, 2026, 8:37 p.mJuly 29, 2026, 8:37 p.m
Thomas Seibert, Istanbul / ch media
Iran has obviously seen the US’s military restraint in recent days as a sign of weakness. He is currently going on the offensive again. With new rocket attacks on Jordan, the shelling of ships in the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on Saudi Arabia by pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, the Iranian leadership has canceled the latest ceasefire. America and Saudi Arabia hit back on Wednesday, and US President Donald Trump announced a “beat” for Iran.
Donald Trump is already noticeably toughening the tone towards Iran again.Image: keystone
Trump ended an almost two-week series of air strikes on targets in Iran on Friday, partly because US forces were running out of important weapons. Iran then initially stopped shelling Arab states and held new negotiations with its neighbor Oman about the future of the Strait of Hormuz.
The lull in fighting fueled hopes of an end to the conflict, and global oil prices fell. After the new Iranian attacks, Trump said on Wednesday, according to the US broadcaster Fox, that America would strike back “hard”.
Iran: USA shows “strategic weakness”
The Iranian leadership is certain that new US attacks will not change the situation. The Tehran regime appears to have accepted the view that Iran is militarily strong enough to impose its will on the region in the Strait of Hormuz dispute and other issues.
Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibadi warned his country’s opponents that the Islamic Republic has expanded its defense capacities. The Revolutionary Guard said that unlike the USA, Iran had used the ceasefire that came into effect in April to improve the effectiveness of its armed forces. This included faster missile production and improved weapon targeting.
Tehran wants to determine the pace of the conflict itself and not just react to Trump’s decisions, says Iran expert Danny Citrinowicz from the Israeli institute INSS. Iran sees an opportunity to change the regional order in its favor, Citrinowicz wrote on
In Tehran they want to get to the US President’s throat.Image: keystone
The counterattack followed quickly
This reassessment of the situation by Iran was followed by the new escalation. On Monday and Tuesday, pro-Iraqi militiamen in Iraq attempted to attack oil facilities in Saudi Arabia with a total of more than 30 drones; the weapons were intercepted by Saudi air defense.
American and Saudi forces responded on Wednesday with a retaliatory attack on bases of the pro-Iran militia PMF in eastern Iraq, killing at least 20 people, according to the PMF. According to Iranian sources, four soldiers from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard were among the victims. Trump said the counterattack was coordinated with the Iraqi government and called the Iraqi militias a “cancer” that was harming the world.
The Houthi rebels in Yemen, also allied with Iran, reported a new attack on a Saudi oil tanker in the Red Sea on Tuesday. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it also fired on three tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
Almost at the same time, Tehran rejected a proposal from neighboring Oman for joint Arab-Iranian management of the strait, according to the Reuters news agency. Instead, Iran is advocating for tanker traffic to be diverted through the waterway entirely in one direction and partially through Iranian waters in the other direction. That would consolidate Iranian control over the waterway.
Attacks despite supposedly ongoing negotiations
The regime threatens to attack European warships if they approach the Strait of Hormuz. According to the New York Times, Iran was also temporarily considering an attack on a Ukrainian port city on the Black Sea after the Ukrainians fired on an Iranian ship with military supplies on board in the Caspian Sea.
On Wednesday morning, Iran fired missiles at US bases in Jordan, as it has done in previous weeks. The US Central Command responsible for the Middle East said that American forces had repelled the “attempted surprise attack”. The Jordanian army said it also shot down five Iranian missiles.
The new tensions caused oil prices to rise again and could increase the pressure on Trump to carry out his threat of a major attack on the Iranian areas on the Strait of Hormuz. The US President said at the beginning of the week that if talks with the Iranians failed to produce results, America would attack the Islamic Republic again. In his interview with Fox on Wednesday, Trump said that talks with Iran were still ongoing, according to the broadcaster. Nevertheless, he announced the new military strikes. (schweiztoday.ch)