BREAKING: U.S. launches new strikes against Iran

We're continuing to track breaking news out of the Middle East. We are learning that kinetic activity is returning to the strait once more. This is not the first time this has happened. This is really beginning. Just in the last hour or so, Barak Ravid confirming that the US military is conducting strikes against Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz area in response to the IRGC's attack on a commercial ship. It was reported just before these US strikes that Iran said that it considers the Strait of Hormuz closed once again after a vessel using an unauthorized route was struck by a warning shot in the critical waterway, which is, of course, jeopardizing an already tenuous ceasefire between them and the United States, Iran and the US coming to terms on that MOU. So many of us have become familiar with this term, a memorandum of understanding, basically saying that the two sides agree not to fire at each other. And in return, they'll continue the negotiations behind the scenes and work on a long-term path toward a solution. For now, though, as I mentioned, the kinetic activity continues. This live depiction of the traffic in the Strait of Hormuz is brought to us courtesy of Marine Traffic, US Central Command saying that its forces have begun a third round of strikes. And you'll just have to bear with me because new information is coming in by the minute, trying to get this all on air as timely as possible. The US military has released a statement, the AP has it. They say, quote, the United States is imposing a heavy cost by continuing to degrade Iran's ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the Strait. A Cyprus-flagged container ship struck by Iran suffered significant engineer room damage, and a civilian crew member is missing, US CENTCOM said. Okay, so that's a new piece of information I'm reading here. So US CENTCOM, which again, that's the US military's command that covers the jurisdiction that so many of these Middle Eastern states are in. CENTCOM says that a Cyprus-flagged container ship struck by Iran suffered significant engineer room damage, and a civilian crew member is missing. So we've been asking ourselves this question so often, which is why does Iran fire these preliminary shots that oftentimes do result in kinetic fire being exchanged by both sides? There's been a lot of reporting on the topic. And one of the common denominators that the reporting suggests is that there might be a lack of unity within the Iranian upper ranks. We'll wait for more reporting to come out on this specific incident. For now, this is what we have in front of us. Axios' Barack Ravid saying that the US military is conducting strikes against Iranian targets in Hormuz in response to the IRGC's attack on a commercial ship. Senior US officials, according to the AP, had previously said in Washington that negotiations to further cement last month's deal to end the war will be unable to progress without the Strait being secure. And even said that they expected Iran to offer public statements to that effect. We were having conversations about this just yesterday, that the White House wants Iran to release a public statement saying that Hormuz is open to traffic and that there will be no more strikes on ships. And it appears that another situation has come up where there was at least one vessel that was fired at, and now the US responding with more kinetic action on their end. A live look, of course, all of this comes in the context of the wider US-Iran war, which Israel has also been involved in offensively. It is 3.22 in the morning, Israel Standard Time. It's approaching 8.30 at night in the nation's capital. A live look at the Capitol building as we are learning that the US has launched new strikes on Iran. I will be looking out for any official posts from President Trump on Truth Social. We're also coming through social media in real time. We're learning more about this as the minutes go by. US CENTCOM, the US military, we're checking all those channels to see if any new information comes through. We are hearing that there is, and we're just hearing from our producing team here, that there is a new post from US Central Command. So I'm gonna bring this up here. We're gonna work on getting this plugged into our system. I'm gonna read verbatim some of what US Central Command is saying. And again, I'm gonna just take a live look at the Strait of Hormuz's marine traffic, and this is brought to us courtesy of marine traffic. So US CENTCOM posting on social media, this was posted within the past hour. They say at 7.15 PM Eastern Time today, Central Command forces began launching the third round of strikes this week against Iran after Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces blatantly attacked a Cyprus flagged container ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz. A civilian crew member is missing, and the vessel is unable to continue the journey due to an on-board fire and significant engine room damage. US military continues by saying, Iran was provided yet another opportunity to demonstrate adherence to the memorandum of understanding after being held accountable for earlier attacks on commercial vessels, but has again failed. In response, the United States is imposing a heavy cost by continuing to degrade Iran's ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the Strait. The strikes are being carried out at the direction of the commander in chief. So marine traffic bringing us that live depiction of the Strait. And I just read you what the US military has posted about this most recent volley of kinetic action. So what we're going to do is we're gonna keep tabs on any and all posts coming through from whether it be the US military, whether it be from President Trump. I don't believe we've seen anything from President Trump yet, but the US military says that all of this is coming unsurprisingly at the direction of the commander in chief. Am I hearing that right, Julie Hegseth? Okay, so Secretary Hegseth also sending out a short statement I'm hearing. Let's get this up here in front of me. Iran made a poor choice, now they pay. So a simple two word statement by the Secretary. Secretary Hegseth saying Iran made a poor choice, now they pay. So one of my big questions as we wait to learn more about this is how significant are these strikes? What's the extent of the offensive that the US is carrying out right now? The US has not been shy about saying that they will carry out a more extensive offensive if they have to. And so that's all the Secretary said for now. Iran made a poor choice, now they pay. Will this round of strikes look different than previous round of strikes? These are the answers I'm gonna be looking for as things move forward. We're gonna be checking in with Hal Kemper within the next half hour or so. We're also gonna see if we can check in with the AP's Will Weissert within that time as well. We're keeping an eye on the story. It's time for us to take yet another quick commercial break. Our coverage returning in about two minutes.