US, Iran exchange attacks around Strait of Hormuz

The United States military has concluded a third consecutive night of strikes against Iran, hours before a reinstated naval blockade of Iranian ports takes effect, as Washington and Tehran both stake claims for the control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Central Command, the US military’s regional command also known as CENTCOM, said its latest strikes began at 4:45pm at its headquarters in Tampa, Florida, (20:45 GMT) on Monday and were aimed at degrading Iran’s capacity to attack “innocent civilians and commercial shipping” in the strait.

CENTCOM later announced the conclusion of its attacks and said the latest round of attacks on Iran lasted five hours. It added that US forces “successfully struck military targets across Iran, including Bushehr, Chah Bahar, Jask, Konarak, Abu Musa and Bandar Abbas”.

Iranian state television and semiofficial news agencies reported explosions throughout the night across the southern coast, including the port city of Bandar Abbas, on Kish and Qeshm islands and the town of Jam in Bushehr province. Iranian media say at least four people were wounded in a US attack on the southwestern city of Omidiyeh.

A projectile that struck western Bandar Abbas caused no casualties, the Fars News Agency reported, citing the governor’s office.

The Tasnim News Agency reported that Iranian forces had struck several “violating” vessels in the strait and a US-made drone had been shot down near Bandar Abbas.

Iranian strikes

The United Arab Emirates said two of its oil tankers were hit by Iranian cruise missiles in Omani waters in the Strait of Hormuz. The UAE added that one Indian crew member was killed on one of the tankers and six Indians and two Ukrainians were wounded.

The Emirati Ministry of Defence warned that the country “reserves its full right to respond to this escalation”.

India confirmed that an Indian national was killed, and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it summoned an Iranian diplomat and “a strong protest against these attacks was lodged with him.”

Later on Tuesday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations reported a tanker had been hit by a missile while using the southern route in the strait on Monday. It warned vessels to transit with caution.

For its part, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had launched a wider retaliatory campaign against US allies and interests across the Gulf and in Jordan.

The Iranian military said on Monday that it carried out a drone attack on US military targets in Kuwait. In a statement posted by the state broadcaster IRIB, the military said it launched drones at a US Patriot missile system, fuel tanks, a watchtower, an ammunition depot and communication systems.

The IRGC said it targeted “several weapons storage depots, a satellite communications centre and a building housing US forces” at al-Juffair base in Bahrain. It also said it targeted the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain with missiles and drones. Attacks continued into early Tuesday with Bahraini authorities activating air raid sirens at least three times.

Iranian forces also said they launched ballistic missiles at US forces at an airbase in Jordan, hours after the Jordanian army said it had shot down four missiles.

Earlier on Monday, Iran struck targets in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait again.

US President Donald Trump formally notified Congress on Friday that fighting with Iran had resumed on July 7, invoking what he said was his authority to keep US forces in combat for another 60 days without lawmakers’ approval.

The highest-ranking Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, criticised the decision to resume hostilities. “The House and Senate both voted to remove our forces from harm’s way and end this war now. Trump must comply,” he said in a post on X.

The US naval blockade on Iran, confirmed by the US Navy-led Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC), is due to begin at 20:00 GMT on Tuesday.

It marks the rapid collapse of an extended ceasefire reached in June under a US-Iran memorandum of understanding (MoU) as the two sides fight over a waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil passed before the US and Israel began their war on Iran in February. The MoU was considered a framework by which Tehran and Washington could reach a peace agreement.

The US blockade covers Iran’s ports and terminals along its entire southern coastline, according to the JMIC.

Vessels headed to destinations other than Iran will still be allowed to sail through the Strait of Hormuz, and humanitarian shipments will be permitted after inspection, the JMIC said, but ships suspected of helping Iran evade the blockade through ship-to-ship transfers face boarding, and those that fail to comply risk being disabled or destroyed.

Strait of Hormuz

The war of words over who controls the Strait of Hormuz continued on Monday with Trump insisting again that the strait was open and announcing a 20 percent toll on cargo shipped through it in exchange for US protection.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi rejected the US president’s claim, saying Tehran “has always been the guardian of the strait and will remain so forever”.

At a news conference on Monday, Trump said Iran’s offensive capabilities were being dismantled but he still thinks a “deal is possible” despite the return to fighting.

Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna, reporting from the White House, said the fighting did not necessarily rule out a return to talks.

“The ceasefire is over, but the negotiations are still there,” he said, adding that Washington wanted to keep alive “the concept of negotiations” even if none were under way because the administration remained eager to secure a deal.

Trump also repeated his demand that Gulf nations help cover the cost of protecting shipping, saying Washington was “protecting a very rich portion of the world” and expected to be paid for it.

The current escalation followed weeks of tit-for-tat strikes that steadily wore down the June ceasefire as Iran and the US clashed over who has authority to control traffic through the strait.

Oil prices surged on Tuesday to a four-week high with Brent crude futures rising $1.68 a barrel, or 2 percent, to reach $84.98 in early trading.

Kpler, a ship-tracking firm, said crossings through the strait fell by about 52 percent from Friday to Sunday compared with the previous week.