• Updated

An ambulance rushes towards the hospital carrying injured victims from the site of a suicide bombing, in Kabal, a town in the Swat Valley in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Sherin Zada)

The U.S. and Iran are back to bombing every day in a bid to control the Strait of Hormuz. And neither is backing down, showing the limitations of President Donald Trump’s reliance on escalating airstrikes to bend Tehran to his will. While the Trump administration says it is open to diplomacy, Iran so far has refused to loosen its grip over the crucial oil shipping corridor. The collapse of an interim ceasefire deal raises strategy questions as more American troops die and U.S. gasoline prices rise above $4 a gallon, posing more problems for Republicans hoping to get reelected.