Escalating Attacks in Strait of Hormuz Risk Return to 'Full-Blown War'

Iran on Monday launched missiles and drones at US military forces and merchant ships after President Donald Trump announced plans to help vessels navigate the Strait of Hormuz.

According to The Washington Post, the Iranian strikes "were carried out just after Central Command announced that two U.S.-flagged commercial vessels passed through the strait, the first known to have done so since the ceasefire, closely following the passage of two US destroyers."

Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi, a senior Iranian commander, warned in a statement given to the Iranian Mehr News Agency that his country's military "will attack any foreign force, particularly the US military, if it attempts to approach or enter the Strait of Hormuz."

Trump responded to the Iranian attacks by once again threatening to carry out war crimes, telling Fox News' Trey Yingst that Iran will "be blown off the face of the Earth" if it attacks US military ships.

Trump's latest threat comes just over a month after the president delivered an openly genocidal threat against Iran, warning that "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again," if Iran's leaders didn't give into his demands.

Amid the resumption of hostilities, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) warned that the US and Iran could be stumbling into a dangerous new phase of the war, which Trump launched in late February without any authorization from the US Congress.

"In seemingly daring Iran to fire on US vessels by testing their restriction of naval traffic through the Strait of Hormuz," NIAC wrote in a social media post, "the US risks instigating a Gulf of Tonkin-like incident that would serve as a spark for deeper military hostilities. The consistent rejection of diplomatic off-ramps and use of brinksmanship to seek to enhance leverage at the negotiating table is a losing game that risks tilting the US and Iran back into full-blown war."

Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, relayed comments from an unidentified Iranian analyst who said Iran's decision to fire "warning shots" at US military vessels represented a move to a more aggressive strategic posture.

"If Trump plans to restart the war, Iran will not wait for Trump to do so before it retaliates," Parsi wrote. "It will strike preemptively in a measured way to deter Trump."

Sina Toossi, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, called attention to Trump's claims that his escort mission to get two commercial vessels out of the Strait of Hormuz was a "success," even as it led to reported Iranian strikes on ports in the allied United Arab Emirates.

"Reads like another desperate attempt to steady markets as events suggest otherwise," Toossi remarked.

Jennifer Kavanagh, senior fellow and director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, said the latest round of hostilities showed the Trump administration was still in denial about what needs to happen to reopen the strait.

"The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is a problem CAUSED by US military power, not one US military power can fix," Kavanagh explained. "The sooner Washington accepts this, the sooner we can start working toward a diplomatic resolution."