Fighting between the U.S. and Iran intensified overnight, with the American military hitting a wide range of new targets and Tehran claiming it had launched attacks on several of Washington’s allies in the region.
The skirmishes represented a higher level of military activity between the two foes since a ceasefire went into effect last month and raised hopes of a lasting peace deal. President Trump declared the ceasefire over last week after Iran fired on ships heading through the Strait of Hormuz.
Now the two sides are locked in a stalemate over the strait, a waterway through which 20% of the world’s oil flowed before Iran effectively shut it down during the war. Trump administration officials have grown pessimistic about ongoing negotiations with Tehran and frustrated about Iran’s continued attacks on Hormuz shipping. On Friday, senior officials told reporters that a nuclear deal is increasingly unlikely and warned that there would be serious consequences if Iran didn’t guarantee safe passage of ships.
The White House wanted Iran to issue a statement declaring that the Strait of Hormuz is open and that it will stop attacking commercial vessels. Instead, the Revolutionary Guard declared the strait closed and took aim at yet another ship seeking to transit the waterway near the coast of Oman, a route that has been cleared and promoted by the U.S. military.
The U.S. military said it hit 140 Iranian targets with precision munitions launched by jet fighters, drones and warships. The fresh round of strikes was much larger than previous rounds over the past week and intended to send a message that the U.S. will hold Iran accountable for attacking commercial ships, military officials said.
The U.S. strikes took aim at Iran’s radars, launchers, missile and drone storage depots and other military sites in and around the Strait of Hormuz, according to a senior U.S. official.
“Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay,” U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on social media .
Authorities in Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain said they were engaged with incoming drones and missiles. All those countries are U.S. allies that host American bases. Qatar, which is involved in mediation efforts, hasn’t been a frequent target of Iran in recent weeks.
The Revolutionary Guard press office said more U.S. attacks “will be met with even more severe responses.”
The military altercations over control of the strait are threatening to pick apart the interim deal that sought to bring an end to the conflict. Though Iranian negotiators have sought to move forward on talks, the Revolutionary Guard, Iran’s powerful paramilitary force, has undermined talks with repeated attacks, according to multiple U.S. officials.
A Cyprus-flagged containership’s engine room was damaged by Iran’s attack and had a fire onboard, the U.S. military said. One civilian crew member is missing. The ship was hit with both a missile and drones, a senior U.S. official said.
Iran also took aim at other ships transiting the waterway, and the U.S. shot down a number of drones, the official said.
The Revolutionary Guard said it fired warning shots because the ship was using an unauthorized route. It said it closed the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important shipping routes.
On Thursday, the U.S. military disputed Iran’s claims that it controls traffic in the vital waterway. The military said the U.S. had helped facilitate the successful transit of more than 800 commercial vessels and 380 million barrels of crude oil since early May, even as Iran threatened ships transiting without its permission.
Trump had signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran in June that called for pausing the war for 60 days and reopening the Strait of Hormuz to traffic while the two countries negotiated more difficult issues like Iran’s nuclear program. But hard-liners in Tehran have tried to control the crucial waterway since then, arguing that the interim agreement gave it the right to do so. It has warned ships to use only its approved route and aims to impose a toll system to monetize its influence over the strait, which before the war carried around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas.
Iran believes it must control passage through the strait as a key piece of leverage to bind Washington to its commitments under the recent interim deal, including sanctions relief and the drawdown of its military forces.
For the U.S., loosening Iran’s grip on the strait is critical to force Tehran into a more flexible position on the issues the U.S. wants to focus on in talks, above all curtailing Iran’s future nuclear program.
Control of the strait was one of the biggest of several issues left unresolved in the interim deal.
