Iran live updates: CENTCOM says it launched additional strikes against Iran

During remarks in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Vice President JD Vance doubled down on the president’s criticism of Iran’s recent escalation in the Strait of Hormuz, vowing that the U.S. will “punch back harder than ever before" -- though he declined to elaborate on whether the U.S. will be striking on Wednesday.

“The basic deal that we cut was we’ll lift our blockade if you stop shooting at ships. But if you shoot at ships, we are going to punch back and we're going to punch back harder than ever before,” Vance said.

The vice president also criticized Iran for going back on its word, saying it was only “well-behaved for about a week.”

“They said they would stop shooting at ships, and what happened 24 hours ago? They start shooting at ships again,” Vance said. “Now they were good, they were well-behaved for about a week, but then they start shooting at ships.”

“So the deal is very simple: if they shoot at ships, we're going to knock the hell out of them, and it's that simple, and that’s the basic way it’s gonna work,” he added.

Despite this setback, Vance maintained that the U.S. holds the power in negotiations with “maximum leverage and maximum strength.”

Eight members of the Iranian ‌army were killed in U.S. attacks on southern parts of Iran early on Wednesday, Iranian state media reported.

The victims belonged to the air force and ‌navy and died due to strikes in Bandar Abbas and Bushehr, it added.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran does not respond to "vulgarity with vulgarity," but rather "with action: fearlessly and with great valor," in a post on X Wednesday.

While Araghchi did not directly mention President Donald Trump's comments to reporters, the post came after his remarks about Iranian leaders, describing them as "scum" on Tuesday evening and again on Wednesday.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei also said the U.S. has challenged a clause in the Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries that "emphasizes the Islamic Republic of Iran's responsibility in determining arrangements for the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz," in another post on X.

Baqaei added that the MoU "was not established on the basis of trust, but rather on the clear mechanism of commitment for commitment," and that Iran will "steadfastly pursue the protection of its national interests and the exercise of its sovereignty."

President Donald Trump was pressed on his plans to leave Turkey in the old Air Force One after he repeatedly emphasized on Wednesday that Iran desired to assassinate him.

Asked if security concerns caused the change in flight plans, Trump said, "I'm No. 1 on the kill list for Iran."

"So, I don’t know, I can’t really tell you that. But I don't really care because I'm doing my job and I'm doing it, I hope, better than anybody has ever done it," Trump added.

The president flew to Turkey in the Qatari-gifted “bridge” Air Force One, which entered into service last month.

Again pressed on why he was not flying out on the new plane, Trump re-stated that it was going to Europe for American servicemembers to tour.