U.S.-Iran strikes ratchet up tensions as Tehran says Hormuz is shut

This frame grab taken from AFPTV video footage on July 12, 2026, shows cargo ships anchoring near the Strait of Hormuz off the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates at Khor Fakkan. Photo by Photo by AFPTV /Getty Images

Article content

U.S. forces struck Iran for a third time in a week, prompting retaliatory attacks on at least five Arab nations as Tehran declared the Strait of Hormuz closed “until further notice.”

Article content

The Islamic Republic responded early Sunday with drone and missile assaults on American allies across the Middle East, including Kuwait, Jordan and Qatar. So far, only minor damage was reported and no casualties.

Article content

Article content

Article content

The Joint Maritime Information Center, a global monitoring body, reported the southern route of the Hormuz strait near Oman’s coast was still open on Sunday, despite Iran’s announcement.

Article content

Article content

U.S. Central Command said President Donald Trump had ordered fresh strikes targeting Tehran’s ability to attack commercial vessels after Iranian forces hit a Cyprus-flagged container ship.

Article content

Iranian media reported blasts on the country’s southern coast, including at the energy and petrochemical hubs of Bushehr and Asalouyeh, the port cities of Bandar Abbas and Bandar-e Dayyer, and the Sirik area near the Hormuz strait, a global energy chokepoint. A communication tower was hit in the southern province of Kerman, injuring two people, according to the Mehr news agency.

Article content

The increasingly heated tit-for-tat attacks are throwing into doubt the fate of U.S.-Iran negotiations that are supposed to lead to settling key issues such as the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program and eventually bring an end to the war Washington and Israel began in late February.

Article content

“Iran made a poor choice,” Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said on social media. “Now they pay.”

Article content

Article content

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced the latest Hormuz closure earlier Sunday, saying it won’t allow any vessels to pass until foreign interference ends, according to state-run IRIB News.

Article content

Article content

Control of the waterway — through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas once moved — has been central to U.S.-Iran negotiations. The IRGC accused the U.S. of seeking “to create disruption in the south of the Strait of Hormuz” by “instigating several vessels.”

Article content

There was almost no visible traffic in the strait on Sunday. The maritime security threat “remains severe,” the multinational JMIC said in a note, as it described the waterway as still technically open to traffic.

Article content

Before the latest escalation, both the U.S. and Iran had suggested there was still room for talks even as the rhetoric intensified.

Article content

The IRGC said it fired ballistic missiles at the Prince Hassan Air Base in Jordan on Sunday, targeting a U.S. command and control centre and multiple drone hangars. The kingdom reported being hit by three missiles, without giving further details.