The United States completed a third consecutive night of air and naval strikes against Iranian military targets on 13 July, a five-hour operation that hit coastal defence systems, missile and drone installations, and maritime facilities across six locations in southern Iran, including Bushehr, Bandar Abbas and the islands of Abu Musa, Kish and Qeshm. President Donald Trump simultaneously notified Congress that the US had resumed a state of war with Iran, triggering a 60-day window for executive military action without prior legislative approval, and announced the reimposition of a naval blockade on all Iranian ports effective 14 July, alongside a proposed 20 per cent levy on cargo to fund security operations in the Strait of Hormuz.

According to US Central Command (CENTCOM), the strikes were designed to “further reduce Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping” and would continue to impose costs on Iranian forces. More than 50,000 US troops are deployed across the Middle East, and the command described its forces as “vigilant, lethal and ready”. Iranian state media and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed explosions in multiple southern cities and claimed responsibility for retaliatory attacks: cruise missiles struck two UAE-flagged oil tankers, the Mombasa and Al Bahiyah, in the southern part of the strait, killing one Indian crew member and wounding eight others, according to the UAE defence ministry, which called the assault “brazen”. The IRGC said the tankers had ignored repeated warnings and switched off navigation systems. Iran also launched drones and missiles at US military installations in Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait; authorities in Amman and Manama stated that air defences intercepted the projectiles.

The collapse of the 17 June ceasefire agreement, which had paused open hostilities and included provisions for the gradual release of frozen Iranian assets and sanctions relief, now appears definitive. Viewed from Washington, the resumption of strikes and the blockade respond to what US officials describe as persistent Iranian threats to freedom of navigation in a waterway through which roughly one-fifth of global oil supplies transit. From Tehran’s perspective, the US actions constitute an economic and military stranglehold, and Iranian officials have framed the closure of the strait as a response to foreign intervention. Analysts in the Gulf note that the exchange of fire has already drawn in neighbouring states: the UAE, a US security partner, has suffered casualties on its commercial fleet, while Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait have been targeted as hosts of American bases.

The current escalation traces back to late February, when the US and Israel began joint strikes on Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure. A memorandum of understanding signed in June temporarily halted large-scale attacks, but both sides continued lower-level operations while accusing each other of violating the truce. The US had previously enforced a blockade of Iranian ports from April to June, redirecting more than 140 vessels and disabling nine ships deemed non-compliant. With the blockade now reinstated and the congressional notification period under way, no diplomatic track has been announced. The US enforcement of the maritime quarantine is set to begin at 4pm Eastern Time on 14 July, while the 60-day clock for executive war powers has started, leaving the Strait of Hormuz as the central fault line of a rapidly expanding confrontation.