US and Iran trade fire as tensions rise over Strait of Hormuz
The US and Iran have exchanged another wave of strikes, as a dispute over control of the Strait of Hormuz threatens to derail efforts to end their war. The US military said it hit dozens of targets on Sunday night to degrade the ability of Iranian forces to continue attacking commercial shipping in the crucial Gulf waterway. Iranian media reported that four people were killed.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they attacked US military assets in Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain, and Oman, where authorities said they intercepted projectiles. Hours later, President Donald Trump said the US was reinstating its naval blockade on Iran and would charge 20% on all cargo shipped through the strait.
The Revolutionary Guards said the US was jeopardizing the world's oil and gas supplies by interfering in the waterway, through which around 20% of global shipments usually pass. Over the weekend, Iran announced that the strait was closed, while the US insisted it was not controlled by Iran and that traffic was flowing.
The escalation has cast doubt over the preliminary agreement that the US and Iran signed in June to end their four-month conflict and reopen the strait. They have also caused a jump in oil prices, with Brent crude up more than 3% on Monday.
Shortly after 17:00 ET (21:00 GMT) on Sunday, US Central Command said it had begun a new round of strikes across Iran. Fighter jets, naval vessels, and one-way attack aerial and sea drones targeted Iranian air-defense systems, coastal radar sites, and missile and drone capabilities, a later statement said. US forces were "prepared to ensure that freedom of navigation remains available to commercial shipping despite Iran's continued unwarranted aggression, harassment, threats, and arbitrary declarations," it added.
Minutes before the initial Centcom announcement, Iranian state TV reported explosions in several locations along the country's Gulf coast, including in Sirik, Qeshm Island, Bandar Abbas, and Jask. State news agency Irna reported that a US strike killed one person at a water pumping station in the south-western city of Mahshahr, in Khuzestan province. A telecommunications company worker was also killed in a strike in Hormozgan province, to the east, it added.
On Monday afternoon, Irna cited an official in Khuzestan as saying that two people had been killed in US strikes in the border city of Abadan. It also said several fresh explosions had been heard in Qeshm and Bandar Abbas.