US forces struck Iranian military targets for a third consecutive night into Monday, hitting more than 140 sites in the heaviest barrage since the fighting flared anew last week. Over three nights, US forces have struck more than 300 targets in Iran, according to CENTCOM, a campaign the command said is aimed at stripping Tehran of its ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels moving through the Strait of Hormuz.
The attack that triggered the latest round
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired on the M/V GFS Galaxy, a Cyprus-flagged container ship, as it moved through the Strait of Hormuz along a southern route hugging the Omani coast, a corridor the United States has protected specifically to route commercial traffic around Iranian-controlled waters. The ship suffered a fire and significant engine-room damage, leaving it unable to continue its voyage. One crew member remains missing. The surviving crew abandoned the burning vessel and were recovered by lifeboat east of Oman, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responded within the hour. “Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay,” he wrote on social media. The IRGC acknowledged firing on the ship but described the attack as a warning shot, claiming the vessel and others had ignored Iranian instructions to change course through what Tehran called an unauthorized route.
Three nights of American strikes
The US campaign has unfolded in escalating waves. On July 7, CENTCOM said American forces hit more than 80 Iranian targets after three commercial vessels were attacked in the strait, striking air-defense systems, command networks, coastal radar installations, anti-ship missile capabilities, and more than 60 IRGC small boats. The following day brought a second wave, roughly 90 additional targets, including coastal surveillance systems, missile and drone storage facilities, naval assets, and military logistics infrastructure.
The third and largest wave came Saturday night into Sunday, when CENTCOM said it hit approximately 140 targets, deploying land- and sea-based fighter aircraft, drones, and naval vessels against missile and drone launch sites, ammunition depots, communications equipment, and other military infrastructure. For the first time, the US also deployed one-way attack sea drones alongside its aerial drones and fighter jets. A fourth round followed Sunday evening into Monday, with CENTCOM stating the strikes were meant to continue degrading Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the strait. Central Command said the order came directly from President Trump to hold Iranian forces accountable.
Iranian state media reported explosions across the south of the country, including near Bandar Abbas, Sirik, Qeshm Island, Mahshahr, Ahvaz, and Andimeshk in Khuzestan province. A navy officer, identified by semi-official Iranian outlets as Lieutenant Hamidreza Dehghani, was reported killed in a strike on the port of Jask. In Mahshahr County, a security guard was killed, and four others were wounded, when a projectile struck a water pumping station, according to Iranian officials cited by IRNA.
Iran’s retaliation spreads across the Gulf
Tehran answered with a wide retaliatory campaign against nations hosting American forces. The IRGC said it destroyed a command-and-control center and drone hangars at a base in Jordan, and separately claimed to have fired ten ballistic missiles at Jordan’s Azraq military base. Jordan’s General Staff said air defenses intercepted eight of those missiles, later revising the count to four missiles shot down at dawn Monday, with no injuries or property damage reported in either instance.
In Kuwait, the IRGC claimed to have destroyed a Patriot air defense system and fuel tanks at Ali Al-Salem base and a radar system at Ahmad Al-Jaber base. Kuwait’s army said it was confronting hostile aerial targets in its airspace, and that explosion sounds heard across the country were the result of its own air defense systems intercepting the attacks.
Bahrain, home to the headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, sounded missile sirens for a second consecutive day. The IRGC said it destroyed the US Army’s drone command and control center at the American base in Sheikh Isa, and in a later phase claimed to have targeted a helicopter maintenance and repair facility and a P-8 aircraft hangar at the same base. Bahrain’s interior ministry urged citizens and residents to remain calm and head to the nearest safe location.
Qatar reported explosions over Doha and issued emergency instructions for residents to shelter in place. Qatar’s military said it intercepted the incoming Iranian missile attack. The IRGC claimed to have destroyed a jet maintenance center and command facility in the country, the first strikes on Doha since April, when Qatar has served as a key mediator in the broader conflict.
Oman, which brokered the very shipping arrangement now at the center of the dispute, reported drone strikes on sites in its Musandam and Al Wusta governorates. Oman’s foreign ministry summoned Iran’s ambassador and lodged a formal protest, calling for respect for the sovereignty of states and non-interference in internal affairs. The IRGC separately claimed to have destroyed US radar systems in Oman and targeted unspecified American military facilities in Bahrain in a further round of strikes.
The collapsed memorandum at the heart of the crisis
The current fighting traces directly to a memorandum of understanding that Trump’s administration signed with Iran on June 17, intended to reopen the Strait of Hormuz after months of hostilities and to establish talks toward a permanent end to the broader war. Under its terms, Iran agreed to make arrangements using its best efforts to ensure safe passage through the strait and to forgo tolls for sixty days. The agreement never defined the precise transit routes ships were required to use, and that gap has now become the fault line of the conflict.
Oman had proposed restoring unrestricted commercial navigation through a southern corridor in its own territorial waters, with ships using a separate northern route through Iranian waters requiring Tehran’s approval but paying no toll. The GFS Galaxy was using that Oman-backed southern route when it was struck. Iran has refused to cede what it considers its authority over the waterway. An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader said the Strait of Hormuz was more valuable to the Islamic Republic than dozens of atomic bombs, vowing to defend it.
Iran’s parliament speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, rejected any return to the prior arrangement. “The era of one-sided deals is OVER,” he wrote, adding, “We told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking.” He posted a screenshot of the memorandum itself, highlighting the clause obligating Iran to make arrangements regarding the strait. Iran’s Foreign Ministry went further, declaring that the renewed American strikes had rendered futile all the diplomatic efforts of recent months and accusing Washington of bringing renewed insecurity to the Strait through what it called open interference in Iran’s implementation of the agreement.
Trump’s position
Trump had already declared the ceasefire dead before the latest exchange began, writing on Truth Social that the Islamic Republic had asked to continue talks and that Washington had agreed, while stating in no uncertain terms that the ceasefire itself was over. Speaking Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press, Trump said Iran had agreed to a deal the day before the attack on the container ship. “They agreed to a deal yesterday. A perfect deal for us. No nuclear,” Trump said, describing how Iran then launched a drone at a ship within the hour. “You people are sick,” he said he told the Iranians. He insisted the Strait of Hormuz remained open despite Tehran’s claims and said the US had bombed the hell out of them the previous night. Trump had earlier warned that any Iranian attempt on his life would be met with “1000 Missiles” already locked and loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic.
On Sunday, Republican Senator Jim Banks of Indiana said that Trump would not end the war until Iran abandons its nuclear ambitions and stops threatening the strait, saying the president intends to finish the job and that the kid gloves are off regarding Iran’s nuclear program.
Israel’s position
Israel has remained outside the fighting as of Monday morning, joining neither the American strikes on Iran nor becoming a target of Tehran’s retaliatory campaign. Israel had no part in negotiating the US-Iran memorandum of understanding. Iran had threatened last week to expand its retaliatory attacks to Israeli territory if American strikes continued, a threat it has not yet acted upon.
Diplomatic reaction and market impact
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned that a return to full-scale hostilities would carry catastrophic consequences. Pakistan’s foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, mediating between the sides, called for de-escalation in a Sunday phone call with his Iranian counterpart, saying dialogue and diplomacy remain the only viable path to resolving disputes and achieving lasting peace. An Iranian delegation led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi traveled separately to Oman to continue negotiations through mediators even as the strikes continued.
Oil markets responded to the violence. Brent crude rose nearly four percent on Sunday to just under 79 dollars a barrel, and US crude climbed to roughly 74 dollars. Energy analysts described the increase as relatively contained given the scale of the fighting, crediting Trump’s public commitment to keeping the strait open. Brent had reached 115 dollars a barrel in April at the height of the earlier fighting. American drivers have nonetheless felt the strain of months of conflict, with the national average price of gasoline near 3.87 dollars a gallon, a 30 percent increase since the war began in late February.
Despite Iran’s closure declaration, CENTCOM maintained throughout the weekend that the strait never stopped functioning as an international waterway. “Iran does not control the strait. Traffic is flowing,” the command wrote, adding that US forces are positioned and prepared to ensure that freedom of navigation remains available to commercial shipping despite what it called Iran’s continued unwarranted aggression, harassment, threats, and arbitrary declarations. CENTCOM said more than 140 ships transited the strait over the past week, close to the roughly 140 vessels that passed through daily before the war began.
As of Monday morning, neither side showed signs of retreat. Iran maintains that the strait remains closed until American involvement in the region ends. The United States maintains that the strait was never Iran’s to close in the first place.
