News analysis

Latest flare-up between the US and Iran: Will there be major escalation or just more of the same stand-off?

Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox

Iranian men off load food stuff close to the port’s damaged storage and warehousing facilities following a US military strike earlier in the week on Kuhestak, Sirik County, in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province on Sept 6.

Iranians collecting food supplies near the port’s damaged warehouse on Sept 6 after a US military strike earlier in the week on Kuhestak, Sirik county, in Iran.

PHOTO: AFP

  • The US has escalated its military actions by striking Iranian oil tankers and threatening to destroy more, signalling a harsher stance in the Gulf amid ongoing tensions.
  • Iran warns of a new, more aggressive response to US attacks, with some leaders pushing to expand the conflict to impact global oil markets.
  • Israel is preparing defensively for possible Iranian attacks, as political motives intertwine with security concerns ahead of upcoming elections.

AI generated

LONDON – With the midterm electoral campaign now in full swing in the US, the Trump administration is clearly trying to divert attention away from its six-month-long military showdown with Iran.

US President Donald Trump, in recent comments to the media, claimed that the renewed fighting between Iran and the US will not last “too long”. Vice-President J.D. Vance went even further by denying that the fighting in the Gulf can even be called “a war”.

See more on