Iran escalates Gulf attacks after fresh U.S. strikes

The fighting widened across the Gulf as Iran struck U.S. military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait, destroyed radar systems in Oman and hit fuel tanks and ammunition depots at Jordan’s Prince Hassan Air Base. Fresh American strikes hit Iranian air-defense systems, coastal radar sites, missile and drone capabilities and small boats.

Airspace alerts spread as the United Arab Emirates warned the public of an incoming missile attack, Qatar’s Ministry of Defense intercepted several ballistic missiles and Bahrain’s Interior Ministry urged civilians to shelter. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps closed the Strait of Hormuz to ship traffic until further notice, while Donald Trump said the waterway remained open to commercial traffic. A Cypriot-flagged container ship, the M/V GFS Galaxy, was damaged in one Iranian attack and a civilian crew member was missing.

Washington’s Sunday strikes targeted Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial shipping through Hormuz, where the U.S. Energy Information Administration says about a fifth of the world’s oil supply normally passes. The U.S. also used one-way attack sea drones in strikes on Iranian targets for the first time. Earlier U.S. attacks on July 7 hit more than 80 targets, including air-defense systems, command and control networks and anti-ship missile capabilities, after Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels transiting the strait.

The latest exchanges strained a June 2026 interim U.S.-Iran understanding. The agreement was meant to reopen Hormuz and create a 60-day window for negotiations. NATO allies had already discussed a British-French multinational maritime mission for the strait at a July 7 meeting in Ankara.

Markets reacted immediately. Brent crude rose 4.3 percent to $79.31 a barrel on Monday, after benchmark prices had fallen earlier in July when tanker traffic through the Gulf recovered under the ceasefire and then climbed again once the truce was breached on July 7 and 8. Shipping through Hormuz partially rebounded before the latest escalation, then tightened again after the truce was breached on July 7 and 8.