The U.S. launched more airstrikes on Iran Wednesday, after President Donald Trump pledged to intensify the bombardment until Tehran stops attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz and agrees to open the waterway.

In a 90-minute operation, the American military hit missile storage and launch sites on Greater Tunb Island in the Persian Gulf near the strait. A second wave came at 3 p.m. U.S. Eastern time, U.S. Central Command said.

It marked the fifth straight day of American attacks. On Tuesday night, American forces struck several military targets, prompting counterstrikes from Tehran on U.S. bases in Gulf Arab states, including Kuwait and Bahrain.

A U.S.-Iran interim peace deal signed around a month ago has all but collapsed over the past week as the two sides feud over control of the vital strait, through which Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and others send most of their energy exports. Oil rose for a third day on Wednesday, with Brent jumping above $85 a barrel and taking its gain this week to 13%.

Trump reiterated his claims that Iran is seeking more talks after U.S. strikes have degraded its missile and drone capabilities.

“We received a call just as I was coming here that they want to meet,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business. “They always want to meet.”

Tehran hasn’t publicly confirmed a desire to resume negotiations, however.

As Iran threatened to attack ships seeking to transit the strait, the U.S. said it had assisted a double-digit number of vessels overnight. U.S. Central Command said in a statement that its forces had fired a Hellfire missiles into the smokestack of a Curacao-flagged “unladen” tanker as it sailed toward an Iranian port.

The vessels “ignored multiple warnings as it attempted to violate the U.S. blockade,” Central Command added. “The ship is no longer transiting to Iran.” Two other ships were turned back earlier.

The head of the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations body, on Wednesday told Bloomberg Radio the Strait of Hormuz remains too dangerous for commercial vessels to transit. That was its most significant warning to the shipping industry since the June agreement.

Each side blames the other for breaching the terms of the so-called memorandum of understanding, which was worded ambiguously on how quickly vessels would have free passage through Hormuz.

Vice President JD Vance, in an interview with Joe Rogan, described the American strategy as “a delicate diplomatic dance where we’re using economic leverage points. We’re using carrots and sticks. We’re trying to talk to the pragmatists. And then, of course, when they commit acts of violence, we’re responding to it. And all those things are happening simultaneously to get us on a better trajectory.”

He added that he was frustrated “by the Americans and, frankly, by people in other countries who are like, ‘you cannot negotiate with the Iranians.’ Well, then what is your proposal to get people to stop shooting at ships in the Strait of Hormuz?”

The latest wave of U.S. attacks has mostly singled out military sites in the south of the Islamic Republic such as radar, missile and drone facilities. The bombing campaign remains far less intense than during the height of the war in March and early April, when Tehran and other major cities were under constant fire.

Iran shows little sign of backing down. “The Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the United States accepts Iran’s lawful system, and a mechanism based on the Iranian will governs the strait,” the Iranian army said in a statement cited by the semi-official Fars news agency.

“The region’s oil and gas exports are either available to all or available to none,” the IRGC said, according to a report from Iran’s Press TV.

Parliament speaker and top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Iran has “no reason to remain committed” to the deal if Tehran is not benefiting from it but stopped short of formally withdrawing from it.

In Washington, congressional Republicans are moving forward with a plan to ramp up spending on the war despite the political risks of backing an unpopular military campaign that has spiked consumer prices.

And Trump administration officials are advancing plans to extend a shipping waiver that’s made it easier to move oil, fuel and fertilizer around the U.S., as the renewed war in Iran raises the prospect of prolonged supply disruptions.

The European Union’s aviation safety regulator, meanwhile, raised its threat level for airlines flying through the Middle East. It cautioned carriers against going through the airspace of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE and the Gulf of Oman.

U.S. strikes have killed more than 30 civilians in recent days, the Iranian government said. Tehran’s military on Wednesday said seven people were killed by a missile attack on a barracks in the town of Iranshahr in the southeast.

The U.S., however, stuck with the decision to resume the naval blockade, a move that has antagonized the Islamic Republic and may further weaken its beleaguered economy. The blockade was first imposed in April and lifted last month after the MOU was agreed.

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With assistance from Hadriana Lowenkron, John Harney and Romy Varghese.

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