U.S. and Iranian forces exchanged heavy missile and drone attacks over the weekend and into Monday, with Tehran saying it had struck U.S. military facilities across the Gulf and kept the Strait of Hormuz closed, driving oil prices higher.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Monday they had targeted U.S. military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait, destroyed radar systems in Oman, and hit fuel tanks and ammunition depots at Prince Hassan Air Base in Jordan in response to U.S. strikes.
The U.S. military said it had struck Iranian air defence systems, coastal radar sites, missile and drone capabilities and small boats on Sunday, using aircraft, naval vessels and drones.
Explosions were heard on Monday in the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas on the Strait of Hormuz and on nearby Qeshm Island, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported, citing local residents. Reuters could not independently verify the report.
Bahrain said its air defence systems intercepted and destroyed several Iranian missile and drone attacks early on Monday.
The latest exchanges mark a sharp escalation in both the pace and geographic reach of attacks over the past week, casting doubt on an interim U.S.-Iranian agreement signed last month to reopen the strait and halt hostilities while the sides pursued a further 60 days of negotiations.
In a brief phone interview with Reuters on Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump referred to the weekend’s strikes on Iran. “We’re beating them up,” he said.
Trump has said he considers the ceasefire over, while leaving the door open to further talks.
Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, struck a similarly defiant tone, posting on X on Sunday: “The era of one-sided deals is OVER. We told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking.”
The war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran on February 28 has destabilised the Gulf, and spread across the region, with Iran attacking U.S. bases in multiple countries.
OIL PRICES JUMP
Control of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for global oil supplies, has become one of the main battlegrounds of the conflict. Iran’s effective blockade of the strait has pushed up energy prices and increased concerns about inflation globally.
Brent crude rose more than 2% on Monday on fears of disruption to one of the world’s most important energy shipping routes, although prices remained below the peaks reached earlier in the conflict.
Higher energy prices, particularly gasoline costs, are politically sensitive for Trump ahead of November’s congressional elections.
Thousands of people have been killed during the war, mainly in Iran and Lebanon. On Monday, one person was killed and seven others wounded in an early-morning U.S. strike, the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency reported, citing a provincial security official.
Iran has not released an overall death toll from attacks over the past week, but state media reports and official statements on individual incidents suggest about 20 people have been killed by renewed U.S. strikes.
IRAN SEEKS OMAN DEAL ON STRAIT TRAFFIC
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement on Monday that the only way to restore regular shipping traffic through the strait was to end U.S. military interventions in the waterway, and warned that “continued interference could lead to greater incidents in the global oil and gas sector.”
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Iran was seeking to establish a joint mechanism with Oman to manage traffic through the strait, adding that U.S. pressure on Oman had hindered discussions.
After announcing the waterway’s closure on Saturday following what it described as an unauthorised transit, Tehran said on Sunday that passage remained suspended and that permits would be issued once “stability and calm” were restored.
Iran has sought to establish a permanent fee and permit system for vessels using the waterway, which before the war carried about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments.
The U.S., which revoked a licence waiving sanctions on Iranian crude sales last week after earlier attacks on shipping, said its forces were positioned to safeguard freedom of navigation despite what it called “aggression, harassment, threats, and arbitrary declarations” from Iran.
“Iran does not control the strait. Traffic is flowing,” it said.
U.S. officials said around 20 vessels had been escorted through the strait in the previous 24 hours, though ship-tracking sites showed little traffic moving. MarineTraffic said on Monday that vessel activity through the strait declined by about 52% over July 10 to 12 compared to the previous week.
The U.S. Navy-led Joint Maritime Information Center reiterated guidance that, despite a severe security threat, an “expanded” southern route near Oman remained available for two-way traffic.
On Saturday, U.S. Central Command said U.S. forces had hit hundreds of Iranian military targets last week “to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial vessels freely transiting the strait.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said at the weekend they had destroyed a control centre and drone hangars in U.S. ally Jordan, targeted a U.S. radar site and rocket launcher systems in Kuwait, attacked U.S. aircraft carrier support platforms in Oman and destroyed a jet maintenance centre in Qatar.
(Reuters)
