US strikes Iran for 12th night as Strait of Hormuz crisis deepens

The US struck Iran for a 12th straight night as tensions over the Strait of Hormuz escalated. The widening attacks on civilian infrastructure and shipping have deepened regional and economic risks.

In Short

• US forces struck Iran for a 12th straight night over shipping
• Iran warned of decisive retaliation after Trump threatened infrastructure attacks
• Strait of Hormuz disruptions have pushed oil and petrol prices higher

The US military said on Wednesday it carried out a 12th straight night of strikes on Iran, as the conflict widened with both sides increasingly targeting civilian infrastructure. Washington said the attacks were aimed at restoring shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran warned it would respond forcefully to any further attacks on its territory and infrastructure.

The escalation came as diplomatic efforts showed little visible progress, with officials on both sides hardening their positions over the strategic waterway. The fighting has disrupted global energy supplies, raised oil and fuel prices, and added to fears of wider regional instability.

US Central Command said the latest strikes were meant to "further degrade Iran's ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting regional waters", as the US seeks to regain control over the Strait of Hormuz and restore the flow of international shipping.

Earlier on Wednesday, President Donald Trump warned that the US would hit Iranian infrastructure if Tehran attacked ships in the strait. "From this point forward, any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, Drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT," he wrote on social media.

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said his country would adopt an "eye for an eye" defence doctrine. "Any aggression against Iran, including our infrastructure, will compel a powerful and decisive response," he posted on X.

The US had already carried out another wave of strikes overnight into Wednesday, with air defences opening fire over Tehran. Iran then launched a missile attack on the Jordanian city of Aqaba, near Israel, while alerts were also issued in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

With talks largely stalled, both sides have sought leverage by targeting civilian infrastructure. Iran has responded to US attacks by targeting energy facilities and desalination plants in neighbouring Gulf countries. Such attacks are generally prohibited under international law unless the facilities are being used for military purposes. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described such attacks on Tuesday as "unacceptable".

The economic impact of the conflict has grown sharply. The Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's traded oil and gas moved in peacetime, remains largely closed because of Iranian attacks. A fresh threat by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen to target Saudi shipping in the Red Sea has also put another trade route at risk.

Trump travelled to Dover Air Force Base on Wednesday for the arrival of the remains of four US service members. A day earlier, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Senate hearing that the US had spent USD 37.5 billion on the war so far. Benchmark Brent crude rose above USD 93 a barrel, up from under USD 72 earlier this month. Petrol prices have also been rising.

Iran says it has the right to manage traffic and potentially charge fees in the strait, which had been open to all and toll-free before the war. Tehran has attacked ships using a route through the waterway overseen by US forces and intended to lie outside Iranian control.

Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who has led negotiations with the US, dismissed Trump's warning. "If our security is not ensured, no infrastructure will be safe, and the security of the strait is in the absence of American forces," he wrote on social media. "We have repeatedly said that the situation of the strait will not return to prewar conditions."

Jordan's military said it intercepted four Iranian missiles over Aqaba and that two others fell in "uninhabited areas". Plumes of smoke were seen in videos filmed in the nearby Israeli city of Eilat. Jordan also said it intercepted four Iranian drones.

Iran has avoided striking Israel since hostilities resumed last month, apparently in an effort to keep it from re-entering the war. But the strike on Aqaba, within sight of Eilat, raised fears that the conflict could widen further after an earlier agreement to halt hostilities collapsed.

Another missile alert sounded in Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia told residents of Dammam on the Gulf coast to seek shelter. Saudi authorities later said the danger had passed, without giving further details.

The US military said earlier on Wednesday that it had completed an 11th night of strikes on Iran, hitting targets including aircraft hangars and drone storage sites. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported explosions in several provinces. Iran's Health Ministry said US strikes over the past 11 days had killed 53 people, including six women and three children, and wounded nearly 600. Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said its retaliatory attacks would continue.

Before the latest strikes, Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni visited Pakistan, a key mediator in the conflict, in an effort to revive diplomacy. It remained unclear, however, what arrangement could end a war that has increasingly become a battle over control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian Interior Ministry spokesman Ali Zeinivand said "diplomacy isn't called off" and that messages were still being exchanged, according to IRNA. An Arab diplomat said Gulf states were growing more pessimistic about finding a way to reduce tensions and were especially worried by threats from both sides to attack civilian infrastructure. The diplomat said countries in the region, along with Pakistan and Turkey, were still pushing for de-escalation, but added that the chances of improvement appeared bleak.

At a regional summit in the Philippines, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticised Iran's actions in the strait. "If we create a precedent in the Middle East where a nation state can decide that they are going to control an international waterway, charge a toll and if you don't pay them, blow up your ships, we have created a very dangerous precedent which will repeat itself in other parts of the world, including in this region," he said.

Rubio said the US remained open to talks with Iran, "but right now they don't seem to be serious about that", and said the immediate focus was on protecting shipping. In response to Iranian attacks, the US re-imposed a blockade on Iranian ports.

Speaking from the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said the US had "no interest in meeting". He also indicated that American forces could soon target Pickaxe Mountain, an under-construction Iranian nuclear site buried deep under a mountain on the southern side of the Natanz enrichment facility. Natanz was bombed by the US during the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in 2025, but Pickaxe Mountain has not been struck and Iran has continued digging there.

Iran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is peaceful, even as it resumed enriching uranium to near weapons-grade levels after Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal during his first term. The US and other countries believe Iran had a nuclear weapons programme until 2003 and may revive it in future. As the strikes, threats and disrupted shipping continue, efforts to restart diplomacy remain stuck and the costs of the conflict keep rising.

With PTI Inputs

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