President Donald Trump ordered another round of U.S. military airstrikes against Iran on Monday, marking the third consecutive night of operations targeting the Iranian regime's military infrastructure, according to U.S. Central Command, as reported by The New York Post.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office shortly after the strikes began, Trump said the military campaign would continue as the United States sought to weaken Iran's offensive capabilities and secure the Strait of Hormuz.

“We’re hitting them very heavy tonight, as you know,” the president said.

“We have tremendous amounts of ammunition. We have numbers that we haven’t had in years, and we’re hitting them very hard, and it’ll continue, and we’ll see what happens. But we’re knocking out all of their offensive capability, and we’re controlling the straits.”

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U.S. Central Command announced the operation in a statement posted to X, saying the latest attacks began at 4:45 p.m. ET.

“At 4:45 p.m. ET today, US Central Command began launching the third consecutive night of strikes against Iran, at the Commander in Chief’s direction,” the statement said.

CENTCOM added that the military campaign was intended to reduce Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping and civilians in the region.

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“These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” the command stated.

According to CENTCOM, U.S. forces concluded the five-hour operation at 10:15 p.m. ET after striking multiple military objectives throughout Iran.

“During the five-hour mission, U.S. forces successfully struck military targets across Iran, including Bushehr, Chah Bahar, Jask, Konarak, Abu Musa, and Bandar Abbas to further degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping,” CENTCOM said.

“CENTCOM forces employed precision munitions against Iranian coastal defense systems, missile and drone sites, and maritime capabilities.”

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The military also emphasized that the more than 50,000 U.S. service members stationed throughout the Middle East "remain vigilant, lethal, and ready."

Iranian state media and unconfirmed reports on social media indicated explosions occurred in several cities along Iran's Persian Gulf coastline, including Jam, Konarak, Bushehr, Bandar Abbas, and Bandar Kangan. Reports also suggested possible strikes on targets located on the islands of Kish, Qeshm, and Abu Musa.

Earlier Monday, Trump suggested that Pickaxe Mountain, a heavily fortified site believed to potentially house uranium stockpiles, could become a future military target.

“We’re going to take out Pickaxe Mountain. Tell the Iranians to be ready,” Trump said during an interview with Hugh Hewitt.

“We’re watching [it] closely. We see no activity there. They’re not doing well with their nuclear situation. Every time we hear about it, we blow it up. So they don’t like talking about it. But we’ll probably give Pickaxe a shot relatively soon.”

The president formally notified Congress on Friday that the United States resumed what he described as "limited" and "measured" kinetic strikes against Iran beginning July 7.

During his Oval Office remarks on Monday, Trump also confirmed that the United States had reinstated a naval blockade targeting Iran.

“We’re putting the blockade back, and it’s a blockade not for anybody but Iran,” Trump said.

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“In other words, anybody doing business with Iran can’t go through. Everyone else will be able to go through.”

Trump argued that combining military strikes with the naval blockade has proven to be the most effective strategy for increasing pressure on the Iranian regime after Tehran declined to comply with the terms of a preliminary peace agreement reached last month.

The president also claimed that Washington had reached an agreement with Iran before negotiations collapsed.

Trump said the United States had a “deal with [Iran] two days ago” before Tehran backed out, while maintaining that a negotiated settlement to end the conflict remains possible.

The latest operation follows another large-scale military campaign carried out Sunday night.

According to CENTCOM, U.S. fighter aircraft, naval vessels, one-way attack aerial drones, and one-way attack sea drones struck dozens of targets at multiple locations across Iran, including military air-defense systems, coastal radar sites, missile and drone capabilities, and small boats.

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Before Monday night's strikes began, Trump previewed the continued military campaign during an appearance on "Fox & Friends," where he vowed the United States would maintain control of the strategically important Strait of Hormuz.

“We’re taking over the strait. They have nothing. They’ve got nothing,” Trump said when asked about Iran's claims that it had closed the waterway.

“So we’re just going to hit them very hard, and we’re going to, we’re going to keep the strait, and we’ll probably run it,” the president later added.

“We’ll become the guardians of the strait. Maybe we’ll call it the guardian angel of the strait, and we should be reimbursed for that … We guarded it for nothing, and now we’re going to guard it — we’re going to get paid for guarding it.”

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