The U.S. military reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports Wednesday and launched a seven-hour airstrike campaign that killed at least seven Iranian troops and wounded more than 260 — dragging Americans deeper into a Middle East war that started in February and shows no sign of ending, while the southern border stays wide open.

The blockade return kills a 60-day diplomatic window that was supposed to produce negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. Instead, American forces are back to bombing barracks and choking off Iranian ports, and Tehran is threatening to shut down all energy exports from the region — which means higher prices at the pump for working Americans and more billions burned overseas while nothing changes at home.

President Trump announced the blockade's return Monday and initially said he'd impose a 20% fee on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, according to AP. He dropped the fee hours before the blockade resumed, citing "requests from allies in the Persian Gulf" — a detail both outlets left unexamined, but one that raises the obvious question: whose war is this, and who's lobbying for it?

The U.S. first imposed the blockade in mid-April and lifted it in mid-June, one day after signing an interim deal that set a 60-day negotiation window. Talks stalled. Fighting over the strait intensified. Now the blockade is back, and so are the strikes.

CENTCOM said American forces struck dozens of targets over seven hours as the blockade was reimposed. One strike hit a barracks for Iran's 388th Mechanized Infantry Brigade in Bampour, in Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iranian state television reported. AP reported that at least 13 missiles killed conscripts and career soldiers. Iranian Health Ministry spokesperson Hossein Kermanpour said more than 260 were wounded — far more injuries than in any previous round of recent violence between the two nations.

Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said more than 30 people have been killed over "recent days," without elaborating.

Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard responded with a threat: "The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one."

The IRGC also claimed strikes on U.S. military infrastructure in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan — hitting what it described as a logistics center in Mina Abdullah, Kuwait, Fifth Fleet command facilities in Bahrain, and the Al-Azraq Air Base in Jordan. CNN noted it could not independently verify Iran's claims and that Iranian state media "have repeatedly made claims about successfully targeting US assets that proved untrue." CNN geolocated video appearing to show an Iranian drone striking an already-burning warehouse near Mina Abdullah, though it was unclear whether the building had any U.S. military link. CENTCOM did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.

Iran launched dozens of missiles and drones at neighboring Gulf Arab countries, according to CENTCOM chief Adm. Brad Cooper, who said, "U.S. forces are holding Iran accountable for unwarranted aggression that continues to endanger innocent lives." Jordan said it shot down three incoming Iranian missiles. Missile alerts in Bahrain and Kuwait have become "a daily occurrence," CNN reported.

AP noted that the war began Feb. 28, when "the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran." The American public was never consulted. Congress never voted to authorize it. But the money and the missiles keep flowing.

The Strait of Hormuz carries a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas during peacetime. When Iran effectively shut it by attacking ships after the war began, prices for oil, fertilizer, and other goods soared. CNN reported that higher energy costs from the war have even rippled into China's economy, with second-quarter growth coming in below expectations at 4.3%.

The blockade is back. The strikes are escalating. Iran is threatening to cut off the region's energy. And nobody in Washington is answering the basic question: what's the exit strategy, and what American interest is worth the price?