The United States and Iran carried out reciprocal military strikes across the Persian Gulf on 7–8 July, while Washington revoked a temporary licence that had permitted Iranian crude exports under a June memorandum of understanding. The escalation followed reported Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. In parallel, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian used a post on X to compare the US government’s conduct as host of the 2026 FIFA World Cup to its foreign policy, writing that both are marked by “bending rules, bullying rivals, creating obstacles, and cheating.” Iranian state-linked media separately reported that Washington had imposed travel restrictions on Iran’s squad, confining it to a training base in Tijuana, Mexico, and permitting entry to US territory only shortly before matches—a measure Tehran said no other participating nation faced.

According to US Central Command, American forces struck more than 80 Iranian military targets, including air-defence systems, command-and-control networks, coastal radar installations, anti-ship missile capabilities, and over 60 fast-attack craft of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The operation was described as a response to what Washington called Iranian attacks on the Marshall Islands-flagged M/T Al Rekayyat, the Saudi-flagged M/T Wedyan, and the Liberian-flagged M/T Cyprus Prosperity. Speaking on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Ankara, President Donald Trump said the interim understanding with Iran was effectively “over” and that further negotiations were “a waste of time,” though he added that American negotiators could continue talking if they wished. The US Treasury concurrently revoked the oil-export waiver, with an official characterising the military and economic measures as punishment for the shipping incidents.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced it had conducted a joint missile and drone operation against 85 US military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait, describing it as an “initial response” to American strikes. State broadcaster IRIB reported that the Qatari-linked tanker Al Rekayyat was targeted after allegedly ignoring repeated Iranian warnings and sailing through an Omani shipping route with US naval support. President Pezeshkian, in his social media statement, said Iran “rejects such games” and “stands firmly for our rights.” Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, was quoted by Iranian outlets as saying the country was not intimidated and was “ready to fight any evil.” Tehran also condemned both Washington and FIFA over the travel restrictions imposed on its football team, arguing they violated principles of fairness expected of a World Cup host.

The military exchanges and the collapse of the oil-export arrangement occurred as Iran conducted a four-day funeral procession for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, whose burial was scheduled for the following day. The US warned that its forces remained prepared to respond if Tehran violated the ceasefire again, while Iran’s armed forces stated they would not permit outside interference in the Strait of Hormuz. The memorandum of understanding signed in June is now considered void by Washington, and no new diplomatic framework has been announced.