The US military completed its sixth consecutive night of strikes on Iran on Thursday, with jets and drones hitting military targets near Tehran for the first time — including sites in Pakdasht and Parchin in Tehran Province. More than 50,000 US troops, two aircraft carriers, and 20-plus warships maintain a naval blockade of Iranian ports. The escalation follows the collapse of the 60-day memorandum of understanding signed June 17. Iran had demanded the right to charge tolls on Strait of Hormuz shipping, and the US declared the ceasefire over on July 10.

1. Hit Harder, Force a Deal (President Trump, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt)

Maximum pressure is working — Iran is already calling, and power plants are next if they don't negotiate.

Escalating to power plants and bridges is the plan. On Wednesday, President Trump said "next week comes the power plants" and "next week comes the bridges" unless Iran returns to talks. That deadline falls around July 22. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Iran is "very much" continuing to talk to the US, and faces "devastating blows."

Iran called to request a meeting, Trump said Wednesday. "We received a call just as I was coming here that they want to meet," Trump told reporters. On the war crimes question, Trump said he was "not at all" concerned: "I don't need international law. My only limit is my own morality."

2. But Iran Is Already Calling — Negotiate Now (CFR Senior Fellow Ray Takeyh, Iran Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf)

Iran's real demand is Hormuz toll rights, and those are negotiable.

Iran's core demand is specific and addressable. CFR Senior Fellow Ray Takeyh says Iran's primary objective is the right to charge tolls on Gulf traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. He argues "this issue may be susceptible to some arrangement, thus averting a larger crisis." Iran Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has signaled that Iranian officials remain willing to negotiate.

Both nations need open Gulf traffic. Iran needs the strait to sell oil; the US needs it for global market stability. Takeyh says Iran is already signaling it wants to meet, and the Hormuz toll dispute is specific enough to negotiate.

3. Bombing Power Plants Is a War Crime, and the War Has No Endgame (International Crisis Group Iran Director Ali Vaez, UN human rights chief Volker Türk, Sen. Tammy Duckworth)

Neither side entered the ceasefire in good faith, and targeting civilian infrastructure would violate international law.

Hitting power plants would be a war crime. UN human rights chief Volker Türk said directly: "Under international law, deliberately attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime." More than 100 international law experts signed an open letter raising serious humanitarian law concerns about the US strikes. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth previously fired the Pentagon's top uniformed military lawyers, calling them "roadblocks to orders given by a commander-in-chief."

Neither side treated the peace deal as a bridge to peace. Ali Vaez, Iran Project Director at the International Crisis Group, said Thursday that "both sides looked to the memorandum of understanding as the continuation of the war by other means, not as a bridge to peace." He described US diplomatic handling as "diplomatic malpractice" and said "there is really no military solution." US strikes killed at least 35 civilians over five days.

No path out is visible. Sen. Tammy Duckworth called Trump's approach "a recipe for a forever war." Senate Democrats blocked the $1 trillion defense authorization bill on July 14 in protest over the strikes — the vote failed 50-46. Vaez says the best outcome is for both sides to return to the MOU and actually honor it, or risk creating "the circumstances for a forever war."

Where This Lands

Trump has given Iran roughly a week to restart negotiations or face strikes on its power grid and bridges — an escalation that the UN's human rights chief says would be a war crime. The diplomatic camp says Iran is already signaling it wants to meet. Takeyh argues the Hormuz toll dispute is specific enough to negotiate. Crisis Group's Vaez says the deeper problem is that both sides treated the ceasefire as a tactical pause rather than a genuine framework. Vaez says that without a long-term strategy, there's nothing to stop the next round.

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