Two Iranian officials issued public threats against the United States after US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced a fresh round of military strikes on Iran, according to automatic translations of their Persian-language posts on X. Ebrahim Rezaei, a member of Iran's Parliament, warned Americans to "await the hard slap from the Iranians", while the parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, cautioned that "if you strike, you'll get hit" and insisted the Strait of Hormuz would open only on Iran's terms. The exchange signals a further deterioration in US–Iran relations following the collapse of a ceasefire, with President Trump having declared the deal "over".

According to CENTCOM, US forces struck approximately 90 Iranian military targets on 8 July, including air defence systems, coastal surveillance assets, missile and drone storage sites, naval capabilities and military logistics. The command said the operations were ordered by the Commander in Chief to degrade Iran's ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, and to hold Tehran accountable for what it called unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews. The article, published by Fox News, frames the strikes against a wider backdrop of regional tensions, including concerns over Iran's nuclear work and alleged Iranian drone activity near the US mainland.