US Politics as it happened: US launches new attacks on Iran after Trump threat

Thanks for reading our live coverage of US politics and the Middle East conflict today.

Here’s what made headlines.

• The United States launched another round of strikes in retaliation to Iran’s attacks on American forces and Saudi oil infrastructure yesterday.
• President Donald Trump let loose a foul-mouthed tirade against Tehran, telling Fox News that “we are going to beat the f---ing s--- out of them”.
• In Washington, former US chief medical officer Anthony Fauci refused to answer more than 100 questions in a Senate hearing about the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Fauci criticised the committee, saying it is carrying out a political and personal vendetta, and added his “reluctant” decision to plead the Fifth was done on the advice of his lawyer.

The ISW think tank says Iran’s “surprise attack” yesterday was likely part of a strategy to deter the US’s willingness to stick it out in the region.

Tehran likely hoped to “erode the United States’ willingness to undermine the regime’s efforts to achieve its war aims, including securing Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz”.

“The regime likely calculated that it could degrade the United States’ willingness to continue the conflict by inflicting damage or US casualties during the current ‘pause’ in strikes,” the ISW said.

In other words, the Iranian government hopes to make it clear that it is unwilling to let the US determine the pace of the conflict, and that Iran is willing to risk larger-scale conflict to achieve its aim of control over the strait.

Iranian state media has reported explosions in the country’s south.

Broadcaster Press TV issued the reports early Thursday local time, shortly after the US announced it had begun retaliation strikes for Iran’s surprise attack on US military assets yesterday.

A new CNN poll has delivered a sack of bad news to Trump - and more particularly his Republican allies - some months ahead of the US midterms.

Surveying Republican and GOP-leaning independent voters, the poll shows significant numbers of nominal supporters heartily disapprove of the president over the economy, Iran, and his apparent domestic priorities.

A total of 64 per cent of respondents said high gas prices had caused them hardship, and 56 per cent say the economy is “poor or very poor”.

The same number say Trump hasn’t done enough to reduce prices on everyday goods or gas prices, while 50 per cent say he hasn’t improved the economy overall, and 31 per cent say he’s made things worse.

On Iran, 64 per cent think a long-term war is likely, while 45 per cent say it hasn’t been worth the cost in blood and treasure so far.

About 40 per cent overall disapprove of Trump’s actions on Iran, while 45 per cent say he doesn’t have a clear plan.

And as Trump touts his Washington DC beautification program, including the White House ballroom and the Reflecting Pool renovation, 45 per cent say the president isn’t in touch with everyday American priorities.

Overall, it’s a bleak picture for the GOP - more so when you consider that Republican voters in recent elections have been far less likely to get involved in votes where Trump’s name is not on the ballot, as will be the case this November.

The threatened retaliation from the US is now underway.

CENTCOM has just announced it began launching strikes against Iran at 8pm ET (10am AEST).

“The strikes are a powerful response to yesterday’s attempted Iranian attacks on US forces based in the Middle East,” CENTCOM wrote on X.

Hezbollah is deploying more advanced drone technology, which could change the tenor of future conflicts with Israel, a report says.

The terror group increasingly deployed drones with tactical first-person view (FPV) systems in recent months, the US-based Institute for the Study of War think tank found.

“Hezbollah will almost certainly work to expand and refine its FPV capabilities in the coming months if given time and space to do so,” the ISW’s report said.

“Hezbollah’s ability to develop a more robust FPV drone program represents a serious medium-term threat to Israel, which will need to not only rapidly adapt appropriate countermeasures to counter the current threat but also anticipate Hezbollah’s future adaptations and prepare accordingly.”

The researchers found Hezbollah had begun refining the technology after the 2023-24 fight against Israel that followed the October 7 Hamas attacks.

A senior Iranian politician has laid out one of the country’s red lines after he was asked why commercial shipping was attacked during a ceasefire.

Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the country would not hesitate to resume hostilities if Iran felt its control over the Strait of Hormuz was challenged.

Gharibabadi told Iranian state television this included efforts to establish alternative travel routes through the waterway.

“One might look at it simply and ask why Iran would hit three commercial ships with missiles just because they turned off their GPS, potentially restarting a war,” he said.

“But if you look behind the scenes, you see that the arrangements applied to the Strait of Hormuz will have a long-term impact on the security of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Shipping traffic through the two major Middle Eastern straits remains heavily depressed.

Despite CENTCOM’s insistence - restated on X overnight - that the US military, not the IRGC, is in control of the Strait of Hormuz, MarineTraffic data recorded 14 ships moving through the waterway yesterday.

The pre-war average for 24 hours is about 120 crossings.

A larger contingent of 37 ships passed through the Bar el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea on the western side of the peninsula.

The Houthi rebels in Yemen have declared Saudi ships blockaded from its use but overall traffic has fallen 22 per cent since the group’s announcement, data shows.

In Hormuz, it should be noted that CENTCOM claims to have covertly assisted shipping in the past, which could involve transiting in ways that are not recorded by sources like MarineTraffic.

The missile attack on US bases shows something has “changed fundamentally” in Iran’s approach to the war, an international researcher says.

Hamid Reza Azizi, from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said Iran may not have intended the attack to hit home.

“Given that Iranian missile strikes against US bases in the region over the previous several weeks had reportedly been largely successful, while this attack was not, it is possible that Iran deliberately used older-generation missiles merely to send a signal without causing a major escalation,” he said.

The “signal” itself, he said may have been in response to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House.

“It suggests that Iran’s military strategy may have changed and that Tehran is now prepared to launch a pre-emptive strike if it detects signs of an imminent threat,” he said.

“The attack therefore appears to have been a warning to the United States not to join or initiate a new military campaign against Iran.”