Strait of Hormuz [NASA photo].

Ceasefire is Over – After President Trump threatened Iran while attending the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday attacks between the US and Iran quickly picked up to, it appears, new extremes. 

The US hit Iranian missile and drone sites near the Strait of Hormuz Wednesday night, while Iran fired on US military base-hosts Kuwait and Bahrain, a senior US official told The Wall Street Journal. 

US Central Command said attacks on Iran were broader in scope than Tuesday’s strikes and included Iran’s air-defense systems, coastal surveillance assets, naval capabilities and logistics infrastructure, according to the WSJ report. Jordan on Thursday said its air defenses had intercepted eight Iranian missiles.

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Just When You Thought it Was Safe to Go Back to the Pumps – After an 0.6-cent increase Wednesday, reversing several weeks of long, slow gas price relief, the national average for a gallon of unleaded regular jumped another 5 cents Thursday to $3.846, according to AAA. That’s $1.044 higher than on February 27. Diesel is up 3.8 cents Thursday according to AAA, to $4.810, up $1.036 since the beginning of the US-Iran war. 

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Nominating Convention to Replace Platner – Nightmarish memories of President Biden’s last-minute withdrawal from the 2024 election in their heads, the Maine Democratic Party Wednesday announced plans to hold a nominating convention to select a new US Senate candidate, CQ Roll Call reports, to replace Marine Corps veteran/oysterman/left-wing populist Graham Platner after he withdrew over sexual assault allegations. 

“We believe that for the movement to continue, it can’t be me,” Platner said in an 11-minute social media video Wednesday, according to the report. “And for that reason, we are suspending campaign operations.”

Platner’s withdrawal two days after a Politico report he denies in which a former girlfriend accuses him of sexual assault came ahead of next Monday’s deadline to be pulled off Maine’s ballot. The Democratic Party has until July 27 to forward a replacement candidate in their quest to beat incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins, whose already mild resistance to President Trump has diminished during his second term. 

Potential candidates …

•Maine Beer Co. Founder Dan Kleban already has announced, according to Roll Call.

•Nirav Shah, who led Maine’s public health agency during the COVID pandemic and was deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the Biden administration told NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly on All Things Considered Wednesday why he would be the right candidate if he chooses to run. 

Other candidates identified by Roll Call are …

•Troy Jackson, former state senate president who points to a recent Public Policy Polling result that show him leading Collins 49% to 44%.

•Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who lost to Collins in 2014.

•Former congressional staffer Jordan Wood, who ran for the Democratic nomination for Senate, then shifted his campaign to the state’s Second Congressional District.

•Paige Loud, another former Second Congressional District candidate. ––Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa