US strikes oil tankers, Tehran claims attacks on US-linked vessels

Trump said the U.S. has 'essentially' taken over Iran.

President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military, government and infrastructure sites.

Delegations from the U.S. and Iran entered negotiations in June aimed at a war-ending deal based on a memorandum of understanding signed by both countries.

The U.S. and Iran have nonetheless continued to exchange strikes, with the strategic Strait of Hormuz as the primary flashpoint.

Aug 31, 2026, 10:39 AM EDT

Bessent says Iran is 'losing economically'

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Iran is taking the economic sanctions the U.S. threatened "seriously," and he blamed the recent renewed strikes on the economic pressure from the U.S

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks at a news conference, Aug. 24, 2026, at the Treasury Department in Washington.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

“They're taking them very seriously,” Bessent said. “If you look back, what the Iranian political leadership has said over the past 10 days, they're in shock at the state of their economy, and you know, we are seeing gas lines -- could you imagine a country in the world with the third largest amount of energy resources has to import gasolines, and they now have three, four-hour gas lines that go through the night? So I would think that they are lashing out kinetically because they are losing economically.”

Asked whether the sanctions could slow American growth and whether the actions against Iran are creating global economic uncertainty, Bessent said no.

"The U.S. growth is quite strong, and global growth, we will get to the other side of this Iran conflict, and the world will be better for that,” Bessent said. “And in terms of certainty, we have we have the tariff deals with the countries, and we are seeing quite strong global growth. We believe that the countries need to take substantial deregulation, energy security, which the Iran conflict has highlighted.”

-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart

Aug 31, 2026, 9:42 AM EDT

Trump says US will respond to Iran's attack on American forces: 'We're going to hit them hard'

President Donald Trump told Fox News that the U.S. will respond to Iran's attacks on American forces in Jordan.

"We're going to hit them hard," Trump said, according to Fox News. "There will be a response."

President Donald Trump speaks during an event in the Oval Office of the White House, August 27, 2026 in Washington.
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo

Trump said Iran aimed strikes at U.S. forces in Jordan on Sunday night and he said all the missiles except one were intercepted by American air defense systems. That one missile "was identified as not going to hit anything significant, and they allowed it to pass through the airspace," the president said, according to Fox News.

Trump also said Iranians want to "meet so badly," though he said he "doesn't know if you can count on them to make a deal."

-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart

Aug 31, 2026, 6:06 AM EDT

Oil prices jump after renewed US-Iran exchanges

Oil prices jumped on Monday morning following U.S. attacks on Iranian rocket launcher positions on Larak Island on Sunday and subsequent Iranian retaliation.

U.S. oil was trading at $86.26, up 3.44%, on Monday morning, while global oil was up 3.4% trading at $91.10.

The average price for a gallon of regular was $4.01, down 4 cents from last week's average, according to GasBuddy.

-ABC News' Victor Ordonez

Aug 31, 2026, 4:40 AM EDT

Some missiles not intercepted in Jordan attack, sources say

Two Jordanian security sources told ABC News on Monday that some missiles targeting Jordan were not successfully intercepted, but that there were no casualties.

The sources did not specify where the missiles hit.

-ABC News' Ghazi Balkiz

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