The United States carried out a second consecutive night of strikes on Iranian military targets, while Iran responded by targeting U.S. military bases in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.
The renewed exchange comes after U.S. President Donald Trump said the ceasefire agreed with Iran last month was “over”, casting doubt over negotiations that had aimed to keep the strategic waterway open and reduce tensions.
The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said it struck about 90 military targets across Iran, including missile and drone storage facilities, air defence systems and military logistics infrastructure along the country’s coastline.
CENTCOM said the strikes were intended to “further degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping and innocent civilian mariners” in the Strait of Hormuz. It also said the United States was responding to recent attacks on commercial ships and civilian crews operating in the waterway.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it launched retaliatory strikes on U.S. military bases in Bahrain and Kuwait, calling the attacks the “first phase of the punitive response against the American treaty-breakers.”
Gulf countries also reported Iranian attacks, with explosions heard in Bahrain’s capital, Manama, Kuwait saying it intercepted missiles and drones, and Qatar issuing a security alert.
Shipping Through Strait of Hormuz Declines
The latest fighting has already affected shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Phil Belcher, Marine Director at Intertanko, said only a single-digit number of ships used the southern transit route off the coast of Oman overnight after the latest escalation.
He said around 30 vessels are now passing through the Strait each day, down from about 70 a week ago and well below the roughly 130 daily transits seen before the conflict began earlier this year. Around 20 ships continue to use the northern route overseen by Iran.
Belcher said the shipping industry had become more optimistic after the memorandum of understanding signed by the United States and Iran last month, but that sentiment has now changed.
“This cycle of violence, this cycle of up-and-down, positive-negative news, it’s having an enormous impact both on business and on the seafarers themselves,” he said.
Trump Says Ceasefire Is ‘Over’
Speaking aboard Air Force One and earlier at the NATO summit, Trump said he no longer considered the ceasefire to be in effect.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s over,” he said.
Trump also said Iran had contacted the United States seeking a deal, but questioned whether Tehran would honour any future agreement.
“I just don’t know if they’re worthy of making a deal. I don’t know that they’re going to honour the deal,” he said.
He later described Iran’s leaders as “scum”, “sick people” and “evil people”, and said he believed further negotiations would be “a waste of time.”
