The United States reactivates the war against Iran

WashingtonThe United States bombed Iranian targets again this Tuesday. The new wave of attacks comes after Donald Trump promised to "hit hard" Iran in response to Tehran's bombing of US bases in the region, which in turn was the ayatollahs' response to Washington's attack this Sunday on the Iranian island of Larak, located in the Strait of Hormuz.

Shortly after, in a post on Truth Social, the US president warned the ayatollahs that if they retaliate, there will be a new wave of reprisals. "If the failed nation of Iran retaliates for this very justified attack, it will receive a much stronger and higher-level blow, but this will not be the biggest attack of all: that one is still waiting, and when it's over, there will be very little left of the Islamic Republic of Iran!", wrote the Republican, who once again threatened to completely destroy the country.

However, the Iranian news agency Fars has assured that Iran has initiated a retaliatory operation late this Tuesday (Catalan time). In a statement, the Revolutionary Guard claims to have "killed a large number of US forces" and bombed US bases in Jordan where, it claims, Washington housed ballistic missiles. Details are scarce at the moment, but Jordan's public television confirms that air raid sirens have been activated in the Jordanian towns of Mafraq and Aqaba.

In a post on the X network, the United States Central Command (Centcom) assures that Tuesday's attacks occurred "following recent attack attempts by the Revolutionary Guard against commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz and against US military personnel deployed in the region." According to the same publication, the attacks were directed against targets of the revolutionary guard corps, but according to Iranian state television, at least four people were killed and 35 were seriously injured in one of the attacks, which hit a wedding hall in the Sirik county.

The resumption of crossfire

Although attacks between the two sides have been constant despite signing a truce in June, the context in which they are occurring is significant enough. In the last month, neither Washington nor Tehran had attacked each other directly. But on Sunday, the US military marked a new turning point and bombed the island of Larak.

According to Centcom, that attack served to destroy two platforms with which, according to the US version, Iran had the capacity to launch rockets loaded with marine mines in the Strait of Hormuz, where Washington has stated for weeks that it is working to remove all mines and allow traffic to resume normally. A goal that, so far, even with some ships circulating, has not been achieved.

From Bishkek, where the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is being held, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has expressed his willingness to resume the diplomatic path if the United States fulfills the commitment acquired in the Memorandum of Understanding signed in June in Versailles. Meanwhile, from the G-20 summit being held in North Carolina, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has announced that in the coming days he will deploy new sanctions against various banks as part of the economic war that Washington intends to wage on Tehran.

Bad timing at the Pentagon

The resumption of crossfire between Iran and the US comes amid a growing power vacuum within the Pentagon's top brass. This Monday, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll formally submitted his resignation to the White House. Driscoll, who was considered the likely successor to current Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has resigned from his post after months of tension with his superior.

Driscoll's departure adds to a long list of casualties that the Pentagon has accumulated in recent months, since last April when Hegseth dismissed the Chief of Staff of the Army, Randy George. General George was a key figure for the military command of US forces during one of their most active periods since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was also an ally of Driscoll, with whom he shared much better rapport than with the Secretary of Defense.

Since August, the vacancy to lead the Army's Training and Transformation Command, which is responsible for overseeing the replenishment of Patriot missiles and other critical systems for the army, also remains unfilled.