The United States and Iran exchanged fresh strikes overnight, sharply escalating a confrontation in the Gulf after Iran attacked a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz. The American military said it hit 140 targets across Iran, while Tehran responded by declaring the vital shipping lane closed. The renewed violence has cast fresh doubt on the prospects for peace, coming only weeks after the two sides signed a ceasefire that now looks increasingly fragile.
The latest flare-up began with an attack on a commercial vessel. A Cyprus-flagged container ship was struck while transiting the strait, forcing the crew to abandon the vessel. Most of those aboard were rescued, but one crew member remains missing. Iran said it had fired a warning shot because the ship was using what it described as an unauthorized route through the waterway, while the US military said the vessel suffered serious damage in the strike.
The attack on the ship prompted a swift and heavy American response. The United States launched a widespread assault on Iran overnight, saying it struck 140 targets across the country. Those targets, the US military said, included missile and drone launch sites as well as ammunition depots, in what Washington cast as an effort to degrade Iran's ability to threaten shipping in the strait. US Central Command said the operation was concluded after the strikes.
Iran did not confine its retaliation to American forces. Tehran answered with a wave of missiles and drones aimed at neighboring states that host US bases, including Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, as well as a US air base in Jordan and the port of Duqm in Oman used by the US Navy. Several Gulf states reported explosions, and Qatar's interior ministry said several people were injured by falling debris as its air defenses tried to intercept incoming projectiles, among them ballistic missiles, while residents were urged to stay indoors.
At the center of the standoff is the Strait of Hormuz itself, one of the world's most important shipping arteries. Iran declared that the strait is now closed until what it called US interference ends, a move with vast implications for the flow of oil and goods. American forces countered that ships can still transit the waterway, saying they are prepared to protect vessels seeking safe passage through it.
The escalation has raised urgent questions about the viability of the ceasefire the two sides reached nearly a month ago. With each round of strikes, that agreement has looked shakier, and Iran's parliamentary speaker declared that the era of one-sided deals is over, a signal that Tehran is in no mood to accept terms it views as favoring Washington.
The two governments were meant to be moving into a second phase, a 60-day period of nuclear negotiations, but they cannot agree on how to implement the first phase, with Iran clinging to its leverage over the strait and the United States rejecting that approach. A last-ditch effort to defuse the crisis, a meeting in Oman on Saturday that brought together Iran, Qatar and Oman to agree on how to manage traffic through the waterway, collapsed after Iran rejected the proposed arrangement, and the situation quickly spiraled into the latest exchange of strikes.
The diplomatic opening has since narrowed sharply. President Donald Trump has declared the agreement effectively over, saying he no longer wishes to deal with Tehran, while US forces resumed their bombing overnight for a third time this week and Iran was reported to have fired on another commercial vessel. Trump has insisted the strait is open even as Iran maintains it is closed, leaving the month-old ceasefire in tatters and the path back to negotiations more uncertain than ever.
The strikes have continued to mount. US Central Command said its forces began launching a further round of strikes on Sunday to keep degrading Iran's ability to attack civilian shipping in the strait, an operation it said drew on sea- and land-based fighter jets along with drones and munitions fired from ships. Explosions were reported near Bandar Abbas and Keshem Island, on the northwestern side of the Strait of Hormuz, where much of Iran's missile-launching hardware is concentrated, as the confrontation showed little sign of easing.