LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The U.S. unleashed another round of airstrikes against Iran Wednesday night.
STEVE INSKEEP, BYLINE: President Trump said Iran was taking too long to negotiate. And this morning, he has seized attention with more threats of actions the president may or may not take, saying that he may hit Iran very hard tonight and threatened to take total control of the country's oil and gas industry in some manner. Iran has responded with its own fire. In a moment, we'll talk this over with retired General Joseph Votel. We begin with the facts as we know them now.
FADEL: NPR's Greg Myre is in Tel Aviv and joins me now. Good morning, Greg.
GREG MYRE, BYLINE: Hi, Leila.
FADEL: OK. So the ceasefire - broken? It's the second straight night of U.S. attacks. What do we know?
MYRE: Yeah, the U.S. targeted several sites along Iran's coast. These were military facilities in and around the Strait of Hormuz. These are the places where Iran fires missiles and drones at ships in the Gulf and neighboring Arab countries. U.S. Central Command said the U.S. operation began a little after midnight here in the region - and it lasted for nearly four hours. Now, toward the end of that, President Trump spoke with Fox News - said the U.S. had fired 49 Tomahawk missiles. There were also jet-fighter planes involved. And he said this was taking place - was because, as we just noted, Iran was taking too long to negotiate.
FADEL: OK. So at this point, is it headed for a resumption of a full-scale war?
MYRE: Yeah, I'd hate to make a sort of definitive call on that right now, but this began a couple weeks ago with regular shooting incidents, and now we're seeing a significant fire in both directions. Just to recap the president this week, on Monday, he told Iran and Israel to stop trading missile fire. He said he was close to a deal with Iran to end the war. Then an Iranian drone took down a U.S. Apache helicopter. Now we've had two consecutive nights of the U.S. and Iran trading fire, and Trump is saying more will be coming tonight if Iran doesn't reach a deal, so we're definitely moving up the escalation ladder.
FADEL: Now, Iran has responded both nights with its own attacks. What are we learning about those strikes?
MYRE: Yeah, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said it fired on 18 U.S. sites in the region. It specifically named U.S. military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain and Jordan. So far, no reports of damage or casualties. And these three countries all have a sizable U.S. military presence, and we've seen Iran target them repeatedly.
FADEL: President Trump also said the U.S. was helping oil tankers slip past the Iranian blockade in the Strait of Hormuz. How significant is that?
MYRE: Yeah, Trump described this as a secret mission that began last month and has helped more than 200 ships go through the strait.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Do you know, we've been taking out millions of barrels of oil? Nobody knows it. You know who doesn't know about it? Iran - until right now.
MYRE: Well, that's probably not accurate. You know, this was not all that secret. Ship monitoring groups have been tracking oil tankers. There have been multiple media reports - and even by Trump's own account here, we're talking fewer than 10 ships a day. And remember, before the war, 100 ships or more a day were going through the strait.
FADEL: Now the U.S. has its own naval blockade. What's happening there?
MYRE: Yeah, Central Command said the U.S. fired and disabled a tanker near the Strait of Hormuz as it was attempting to transport oil from Iran. Second day in a row, this has happened. But here's the broader point. The U.S. is trying to get oil tankers from friendly Arab countries out of the Gulf and block ships going to and from Iran. If you add up the numbers, they seem to be in the U.S. favor. But overall, we're still talking about a relatively small number compared to the prewar shipping traffic.
FADEL: NPR's Greg Myre in Tel Aviv. Thank you, Greg.
MYRE: Sure thing, Leila. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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