Trump says US and Iran remain in dialogue after 55 killed in latest strikes. President Donald Trump said the US and Iran are still talking despite 13 consecutive nights of airstrikes, adding that Tehran is "serious this time" but a deal is not guaranteed. Brent crude topped $100 a barrel as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed to global oil shipments.
President Donald Trump said the US and Iran remain in dialogue despite 13 consecutive nights of American airstrikes, adding that Tehran is "serious this time" but offering no guarantee of a deal.
"We are still in dialogue with them," Trump told reporters at the White House on July 24, while declining to say whether he had authorized a broader campaign of strikes against Iran. "They are serious this time, but that does not mean a deal is certain."
The comments came as the US military launched its 13th straight night of strikes targeting Iranian military command centers, air defense systems and coastal surveillance sites across southern Iran, according to US Central Command. Iranian state media reported explosions in Bandar Abbas, Qeshm Island and near Ahvaz, where four people were killed and five wounded. The Iranian Health Ministry says 55 people have been killed and 629 wounded since the renewed US campaign began June 27, while 17 American service members have died since the war started Feb. 28.
The dual-track dynamic — airstrikes by night, diplomacy by day — leaves oil markets caught between a supply crisis and the prospect of de-escalation. Brent crude topped $100 a barrel for the first time since May, before a now-collapsed interim ceasefire, as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed to the 20% of global oil supplies that transited it before the war.
The US campaign, which began with precision strikes on Iranian coastal defenses and naval assets in Khuzestan, Bushehr and Hormozgan provinces, has expanded deeper into Iran's interior over the past week. Targets now include Revolutionary Guard bases, missile production facilities and infrastructure links, with at least six bridges and a tunnel damaged around Bandar Abbas, according to state television footage.
A July 19 strike hit the Khojir military complex near Tehran, one of Iran's main missile factories, marking only the second time the capital area has been targeted in this escalation. The last time the US struck near Tehran was during the opening salvos of the war on Feb. 28, when American and Israeli forces hit hundreds of targets and killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran has retaliated by targeting energy infrastructure and desalination plants in Gulf countries hosting US bases. An Iranian strike on a US base in Jordan earlier this month killed two American soldiers and left one missing, triggering the current wave of US reprisals. Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has also claimed attacks on tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz, while Yemen's Houthi rebels — an Iranian proxy — struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, threatening a second major shipping chokepoint.
The convergence of threats at both the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb strait — through which 12% of global trade passes — has created what Lloyd's List Intelligence calls a "double whammy" for oil shipments. Saudi Arabia has diverted millions of barrels a day of exports to its Red Sea port of Yanbu via an overland pipeline, but the Houthi attacks now put that alternative route at risk.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking while traveling in the Philippines, said Trump's policy is "a head for an eye" in response to Iran's vow of retaliation. "The price will continue to get higher every single night until they come to their senses," Rubio said.
Trump separately threatened "major military punishment" against the Houthis if their Red Sea attacks continue, warning he would hold Iran responsible as the group's patron. The president also said sanctioned Iranian funds held by the US would cover the cost of repairing ships damaged in the conflict — a move Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi called an "incendiary" precedent.
The halfway point has passed in the 60-day window that the interim ceasefire deal had set for negotiating a permanent end to the war, including resolution of Iran's nuclear program. While Trump's acknowledgment of ongoing dialogue offers a tentative signal that both sides see a diplomatic path, the intensifying military campaign and the $100 oil price suggest that path remains narrow.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
