A crowd of mourners gathered around an vehicle carrying the coffin of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during the funeral procession Wednesday from Iran to Najaf, Iraq. The funeral convoys bearing Khamenei's coffin will pass through the holy Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala amid renewed U.S. military strikes on Iran. Photo by Behnam Tofighi/UPI | License Photo
July 8 (UPI) -- The U.S. military resumed attacks against Iran on Wednesday afternoon "to further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz," U.S. Central Command said.
"The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway," the statement continued.
U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking at a news conference at the end of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, said the United States would resume its naval blockade of Iran. He said further negotiations were "a waste of time" and added "Let's just finish the job."
Trump had earlier characterized the resumed strikes as "a little warning," and said, "We're going to hit them hard tonight, but we'll see how it all works out."
