Iran

Existential War

Plus: fixing Rikers Island, the Democrats' Maine scramble, India's affirmative action, and more...

Liz Wolfe | 7.16.2026 9:30 AM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL Add Reason to Google

Media Contact & Reprint Requests

(Polaris/Newscom)

Back at it: "Iran said on Thursday that the Strait of Hormuz was an inviolable 'red line,' warning that if ​U.S. President Donald Trump carried out his threat to attack Iran's infrastructure, it would strike all infrastructure across the Gulf region," reports Reuters. Renewed fighting is now in its sixth day, and the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports has been reinstated following the dissolution of the truce, which was signed in mid-June.

"We are in an essential and existential war with ​America," said Tehran's top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.

The Reason Roundup Newsletter by Liz Wolfe Liz and Reason help you make sense of the day's news every morning.

Δ

URL

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Email(Required)

SUBSCRIBE

The saber-rattling continued on both sides, as Trump warned earlier in the week that the U.S. military would hit Iranian power plants and bridges as early as next week unless ‌Tehran comes to the negotiating table. An Iranian army spokesman said that if Trump made good on his threat, the military would strike "all remaining infrastructure" across the region—meaning U.S. bases, seemingly—with greater intensity than before.

Iran said it had already targeted American bases in Kuwait and Jordan: "Our neighbours should know that providing a base to the Americans and allowing them to fire on Iranian soil ​is unacceptable and will not go unanswered." This is, of course, in........

© Reason.com