Military tensions between the United States and Iran have escalated to an extreme once again. President Donald Trump has warned that if Iran does not halt its attacks, US strikes will become far more devastating.Posting on social media on Wednesday, July 8, local time, along with several images and videos taken in the aftermath of strikes on Iran, Trump said the strikes were retribution for Iran's bombing of ships the previous day (Tuesday), warning that if it happens again, the situation will become "much worse."David Des Roches, a former NATO operations director at the Pentagon, told Al Jazeera that the US retaliatory strikes came mainly in response to Iranian attacks on neutral civilian vessels operating in Omani waters.He said that under the memorandum of understanding, the US side's obligation was to lift the blockade on Iranian ports and withdraw sanctions on oil sales — which Washington did — while Iran's condition was not to obstruct civilian shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. However, he said Iran attacked civilian ships in an apparent attempt to impose new rules asserting its dominance over the waterway, which was unacceptable to Trump. Des Roches added that a rebel faction within Iran's Revolutionary Guard could potentially have carried out the ship attacks in order to derail the diplomatic process.Meanwhile, in response to the US strikes, Mohsen Rezaee, military adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader, issued a stern warning on social media platform X by posting a verse from the Holy Quran, writing that the enemy and its collaborators would be severely punished.Regarding damage inside Iran, state television reported that at least eight loud explosions were heard in the city of Bandar Abbas. Additionally, two missiles struck the port of Sirik, while two others exploded near the port of Jask.According to the semi-official Mehr News Agency, loud explosions were also heard in the southeastern city of Iranshahr.Fars News Agency also reported that US strikes on the port of Chabahar damaged a maritime traffic control system and a depot. According to ISNA news agency, of the three power lines disconnected in Chabahar due to US airstrikes, local authorities have already managed to restore two.