WASHINGTON, DC – September 2, 2026 (STL.News) President Donald Trump has openly challenged the Iranian people to turn against their government as the United States launched another major wave of strikes against Iranian military targets and Tehran retaliated against American positions and U.S. allies across the Middle East.
Trump made the extraordinary appeal while arguing that Iran is being squeezed simultaneously by American military power, restrictions on its oil trade and rapidly worsening economic conditions.
“I like our position now much better,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, saying the United States had “almost total control” of the Strait of Hormuz and claiming Iran’s economy was “totally collapsing.”
He then asked: “When are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight?”
The comments represented more than another warning to Iran’s political and military leadership. Trump was directly addressing Iran’s population at a moment when the country is experiencing severe inflation, a record-low currency, sharply reduced oil exports and renewed American military attacks.
They also came as the United States and Iran entered their most significant exchange of fire since July, ending several weeks of comparatively reduced military activity. Reuters reported Wednesday that the latest fighting represented the biggest exchange between the two sides in weeks.
US strikes target Iran’s military infrastructure
U.S. Central Command confirmed that American forces completed a new wave of strikes against Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets in Iran on Sept. 1.
CENTCOM said the targets included air defense sites, radar systems, maritime assets and facilities, mine-laying capabilities and communications sites.
The command said the operation followed recent attempted IRGC attacks against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and American military personnel.
CENTCOM also disclosed that more than 50,000 U.S. service members are operating across the Middle East, illustrating the scale of the American military presence supporting the campaign.
The strikes form part of the broader conflict that began Feb. 28, when U.S. and Israeli forces attacked Iran and Tehran responded by firing missiles toward several Gulf states hosting American military forces.
The Trump administration calls the American campaign Operation Epic Fury. The White House has said its objectives include degrading Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities, weakening its naval forces and reducing the ability of Tehran and its aligned groups to threaten U.S. interests and regional allies.
The latest operation followed American strikes over the weekend against Iranian rocket launchers near the Strait of Hormuz, the first U.S. military action against Iran in roughly a month.
Iran responded to the new strikes with missile and drone attacks directed at American military positions and U.S.-aligned countries across the region.
Reuters reported Iranian attacks involving Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait and Iraq. American officials disputed Iranian claims that U.S. personnel had been killed in the latest attacks.
The Associated Press reported that Bahrain intercepted incoming attacks and that an Iranian drone caused a fire in Kuwait City. Most of the Iranian weapons directed toward Gulf states were intercepted, according to regional authorities.
The exchange illustrates one of the central dangers of the war: U.S. military facilities are spread across several Middle Eastern countries, allowing Iran to retaliate beyond the territory of the United States or Israel and potentially draw additional governments into the conflict.
Iran accuses US of killing civilians at wedding
The latest strikes have also created a new dispute over civilian casualties.
Iranian authorities accused the United States of striking a house where a wedding was taking place near Sirik in southern Iran, close to the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian accounts said five people were killed, including a young child, and dozens were wounded.
Reuters said it could not independently verify Iran’s account. CENTCOM has said the United States does not deliberately target civilians.
The allegation is important because civilian casualties could increase public anger toward the United States even while Trump is simultaneously encouraging Iranians to challenge their own government.
That creates a strategic contradiction Washington must contend with: economic hardship and political dissatisfaction could weaken the Iranian government, but civilian deaths blamed on American strikes could also generate nationalist support for Tehran.
Iran has repeatedly promised retaliation for American military operations.
Previous exchanges have resulted in U.S. deaths. In July, CENTCOM said two American service members were killed in an Iranian attack in Jordan, while another service member was initially reported missing.
No American deaths had been confirmed from the latest Sept. 1-2 exchange as of Wednesday morning.
Is Iran’s economy really collapsing?
Trump’s description of Iran‘s economy as “totally collapsing” is a political characterization rather than an independently established economic conclusion.
However, substantial evidence shows Iran is under extraordinary financial pressure.
Iran’s currency recently fell to more than 2 million rials per U.S. dollar, a record low, while inflation reached about 66% in July, according to Reuters.
Food costs have been even more severe. Reuters reported last week that food-price inflation had reached about 128%, adding pressure on Iranian households and raising government concerns about possible unrest.
Iran’s oil industry may present an even larger problem for Tehran.
Oil exports are one of Iran’s principal sources of foreign currency. But Reuters reported Sept. 1 that Iran had gone roughly seven weeks without exporting meaningful quantities of crude through the Strait of Hormuz.
Industry estimates cited by Reuters showed Iranian crude loadings falling from about 2 million barrels per day in March to roughly 220,000 to 255,000 barrels per day in August.
The decline is particularly damaging because China has been Iran’s principal large-scale customer for sanctioned oil.
With fewer barrels leaving Iran, Tehran receives fewer dollars and other hard currencies needed to pay for imports and support the rial.
The United States is deliberately attempting to intensify that pressure.
On Aug. 24, the Treasury Department launched what it calls Operation Economic Outcast, a new campaign to restrict Iran’s access to international financial networks and revenue.
Treasury expanded potential secondary-sanctions exposure across Iran’s digital-assets, technology, gold, aviation, and shipping sectors and sanctioned nearly 60 entities, individuals, and vessels connected to Iranian nuclear, missile, cyber, and oil networks.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the objective was to “sever every economic lifeline” supporting the Iranian government.
The administration is effectively combining three forms of pressure: direct military attacks, restrictions on Iran’s ability to ship oil and increasingly aggressive financial sanctions against companies and countries that continue doing business with Tehran.
Iran, however, rejects Washington’s claim that its economy is on the verge of collapse.
Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said Tuesday that Iran retains adequate foreign-currency reserves despite the sanctions and blockade.
Hemmati said the central bank was prepared to inject as much as $2 billion into foreign-exchange markets to counter volatility and insisted Iran’s economy had not collapsed.
His comments acknowledge the pressure Iran is facing while directly challenging Trump’s description of the country’s financial condition.
Strait of Hormuz remains central to the war
The Strait of Hormuz increasingly appears to be at the center of both the military conflict and the economic struggle between Washington and Tehran.
The waterway connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea and is one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints.
U.S. Energy Information Administration data show that about 21.6 million barrels per day of crude oil and petroleum liquids passed through Hormuz during the fourth quarter of 2025.
That fell dramatically after the war began.
EIA estimates indicate Hormuz flows averaged only 4.9 million barrels per day during the second quarter of 2026, compared with 14.9 million during the first quarter.
For perspective, before the disruption, roughly one-fifth of global petroleum liquids consumption moved through the strait. Only a fraction of that volume can be redirected through alternative pipelines.
A June 18 memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran initially helped reopen the waterway, and the EIA said in July that shipping traffic had begun recovering.
That recovery now faces renewed threats as military operations intensify.
Reuters reported that about 17 million barrels of crude moved through the strait Monday, a wartime high, demonstrating that the waterway is functioning but remains highly vulnerable to renewed disruption.
Trump’s claim of “almost total control” should therefore be understood as the president’s assessment of America’s strategic position, not a statement that normal unrestricted maritime trade has been completely restored.
Oil prices and global markets react
The effects extend far beyond Iran and the Gulf.
Brent crude traded near $95 per barrel Wednesday after the latest strikes renewed concern about supplies from the Middle East.
Rising energy prices have contributed to renewed inflation concerns and pressure in global bond markets.
World stocks fell Wednesday while government bond yields climbed, as investors weighed both the expanding Middle East conflict and the possibility that persistent inflation could force central banks to maintain tighter monetary policies.
Gulf stock markets also fell after the new exchange of strikes, with markets in Dubai, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi recording declines.
The economic consequences demonstrate why Hormuz matters far beyond the military contest between Washington and Tehran. A sustained disruption can affect fuel prices, transportation expenses, manufacturing costs and ultimately consumer inflation across much of the world.
Trump’s challenge raises question of regime stability
Trump’s appeal for Iranians to “rise up and fight” inevitably raises questions about whether Washington’s objectives now extend beyond weakening Iran’s military and nuclear capabilities.
Before the war began, Reuters reported that U.S. military planners had prepared options that could include targeting individual Iranian leaders and potentially pursuing regime change if Trump ordered it.
Six months later, however, Iran’s political system remains functioning despite extensive military and economic damage.
Reuters described the conflict in late August as a costly stalemate. Iranian authorities retain political control even as inflation, food prices, sanctions and declining oil revenues increase domestic pressure.
That distinction matters.
A weakened economy does not automatically cause a government to collapse, and outside military pressure can sometimes strengthen internal support by creating a common foreign enemy.
Iran has experienced major anti-government demonstrations before and has repeatedly used security forces to suppress dissent.
The key question now is whether worsening economic conditions generate political pressure strong enough to threaten the government, or whether renewed American attacks allow Tehran to redirect public anger toward Washington.
Trump’s comments make clear that the White House believes domestic Iranian dissatisfaction could become a significant factor.
But events on the battlefield can still change rapidly.
Iran continues to possess missiles, drones and the ability to threaten regional American facilities and commercial shipping. More than 50,000 U.S. personnel are positioned across the Middle East, according to CENTCOM, meaning another Iranian attack causing American casualties could quickly trigger another escalation.
For now, Washington appears to be pursuing maximum pressure on several fronts simultaneously: military strikes against Iran’s capabilities, tighter restrictions on its oil exports, expanding financial sanctions and public political pressure on the Iranian leadership.
Trump’s challenge to Iran’s people marks the clearest indication yet that he also wants that pressure felt from inside the country.
Whether Iran is actually approaching political collapse remains uncertain.
What is verifiable is that Tehran enters the latest confrontation with a currency at record lows, extraordinarily high inflation, sharply reduced oil exports and another wave of American strikes hitting its military infrastructure — while Iran continues demonstrating that it can retaliate across the Middle East.
That combination makes the renewed U.S.-Iran confrontation not simply another exchange of missiles, but a struggle over military power, economic survival, control of one of the world’s most important waterways and ultimately the durability of Iran’s government.
