The United States military launched a new wave of strikes against Iran on the evening of 12 July, targeting air-defence systems, missile sites, coastal radar installations and small boats linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The operation, confirmed by US Central Command (CENTCOM), was ordered by President Donald Trump and aimed, according to the command’s statement, at “degrading their ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the Strait of Hormuz”. The strikes followed an Iranian attack on the Cyprus-flagged container vessel GFS Galaxy in the strait, which left the ship ablaze, its engine room damaged and one crew member missing. CENTCOM described the Iranian action as a “blatant” assault on a commercial ship transiting an international waterway.

Viewed from Washington, the strikes represent an effort to enforce freedom of navigation through a chokepoint that, before the war, carried roughly one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and liquefied natural gas. US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the operation involved fighter aircraft, naval vessels, aerial drones and, for the first time, one-way attack sea drones. CENTCOM insisted that the strait “remains an international waterway” and that “traffic is flowing”, rejecting Tehran’s claim of control. The US military said it had struck approximately 140 Iranian targets in the preceding 24 hours, bringing the total to more than 300 over three nights, and that its forces had intercepted an Iranian cruise missile and a drone during the exchanges.

In Tehran’s account, the IRGC declared the Strait of Hormuz “closed until further notice and until the end of American interventions in this region”, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. Iranian state media reported that between 10 and 11 “enemy projectiles” hit Qeshm Island, while strikes on Farur Island killed a telecommunications worker and wounded two others. The IRGC then launched what it called a “first phase” of retaliation, firing ballistic missiles and drones at military facilities in Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. Kuwait’s defence ministry said three border posts and an offshore drilling platform were damaged, injuring one worker; Qatar reported three people wounded by shrapnel from intercepted missiles; and Jordan confirmed three Iranian missiles landed on its territory without causing casualties. Oman, which had hosted talks with Iran’s foreign minister hours earlier, summoned the Iranian ambassador to protest what it termed “irresponsible” strikes.

The renewed hostilities have placed the interim ceasefire agreement signed on 17 June under severe strain. That deal, brokered with Pakistani and Omani mediation, provided for a 60-day truce to negotiate a permanent end to the war that began with US and Israeli strikes on 28 February. UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that “a return to full-scale hostilities would have catastrophic consequences”. Oil prices jumped more than 4 per cent in early Asian trading on 13 July, with the US benchmark WTI surpassing $74 a barrel, as markets priced in the risk of prolonged disruption to Gulf energy exports. Iran’s parliamentary speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, signalled a hardening stance, writing on social media that “the era of one-sided deals is OVER”. The US president, meanwhile, told NBC that “we bombed the hell out of them last night” but left the door open to continued talks. With the strait’s status now the central obstacle to a diplomatic settlement, mediators face the task of reconciling Iran’s insistence on regulating maritime traffic with Washington’s position that the waterway must remain open to all lawful transit.