US strikes Iran, Tehran hits Gulf states, says Strait of Hormuz closed

• Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz closed after an unauthorised vessel was struck for ignoring warnings, warning of severe responses to any retaliation or new enemy bases in the region.
• The US demands Iran guarantee safe, toll-free passage through the strait.
• Iran’s new supreme leader vowed vengeance for his predecessor’s killing.

WASHINGTON/DUBAI – US and Iranian forces exchanged heavy missile and drone assaults, with Tehran targeting US facilities in states across the Gulf on July 12 and saying it had again closed the vital Strait of Hormuz.

A series of attacks between the US and Iran over the past several days led President Donald Trump to declare the end of a ceasefire meant to halt the fighting that the US and Israel began on Feb 28, though Trump has left the door open to continued negotiations.

The escalation followed several attacks on commercial ships in the area. Iran said it closed the vital Strait of Hormuz after firing a warning shot that struck a vessel travelling on an unapproved route, and said on July 12 it had disabled a second vessel.

The strait will remain closed until “the end of US interference in this region”, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said.

However, US Central Command said commercial vessels continue to transit through the waterway that carried one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before the war.

Central Command said US forces hit 140 Iranian military targets on July 11, out of more than 300, during three nights of strikes “to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial vessels freely transiting the strait”.

Iran escalates pace, expands targets of attacks

Iranian state media reported explosions in a number of port cities.

In response, the Guards said they had destroyed a command and control centre and drone hangars at a base in US ally Jordan, targeted a US military radar site in Kuwait, attacked US aircraft carrier support and refuelling platforms in Oman and destroyed a fighter jet maintenance centre and command and control facility in Qatar.

Qatar’s government said three people, including a child, were injured by falling shrapnel from the attack.

The United Arab Emirates said its air defence systems were engaging missiles and drones from Iran, while warning sirens sounded in Bahrain and explosions were heard in Doha. The UAE’s National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority later said that missile threats detected earlier in the day were outside the country’s borders.

Three missiles from Iranian territory landed in Jordan early on July 12, causing minor material damage and no casualties, Jordan’s state news agency reported.

Sites in Oman’s Musandam region were targeted with drones on July 12, its state news agency reported, without saying if there were any casualties.

One Indian national is missing after an attack on the commercial vessel GFS Galaxy off the coast of Oman earlier on July 12, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said.

“Of the 11 Indian nationals on board, 10 have been rescued, while one Indian national is reportedly missing,” the ministry said, condemning the attack.

Tehran’s strikes marked a sharp escalation in pace and targets, after it had warned that any retaliation over the container ship incident would be met with a “severe response”.

In recent weeks, Iran had hit sites in Kuwait and Bahrain while avoiding Qatar since early April and the UAE since early May.

The July 12 attack on Qatar targeted a state whose mediation efforts have been central to attempts to broker a ceasefire between the US and Iran – and Doha has previously said it would not act as a mediator so long as it was under attack.

The war has destabilised the Gulf, while Iran’s effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has caused energy prices to surge, fuelling global inflation.

Higher prices, especially for petrol, are a politically sensitive issue for Trump ahead of the November congressional elections.

The latest flare-up cast further doubt over the future of an interim US-Iranian agreement signed in June with the aim of ending the war.

On July 12, Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf posted on X: “The era of one-sided deals is OVER. We told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking.”

The US revoked the licence authorising the sale of Iranian crude on July 7 after Qatari and Saudi commercial tankers came under fire earlier in the week, prompting a series of tit-for-tat US and Iranian strikes.

While Iran has not claimed responsibility for the earlier ship attacks, analysts say Tehran uses such actions to gain leverage in negotiations.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi discussed regional developments in a phone call with Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, whose country has been a key mediator seeking to resolve the conflict between the US and Iran, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

The latest round of hostilities came after talks on July 11 between Araghchi and Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi in Oman.

The aim of the talks was to coordinate arrangements for shipping and transit in the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei said on July 12.

Legal and technical delegations from both countries discussed maritime security and safety, and agreed to continue political and technical-legal talks to reach a joint understanding, with a Qatari delegation also present, he said.

Oman’s state news agency reported on July 11 that negotiators would continue talks “at the technical and political levels”.

A written statement from Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, on July 11 threatened vengeance for the death of his predecessor and father, who was killed in the war’s initial attacks.

Iran’s new leader has not been seen in public since the war began. REUTERS