US restores blockade in Strait of Hormuz as Iran attacks Gulf nations

The US military reimposed a blockade on Iranian ports on Wednesday over Tehran’s attacks on ships trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, sparking new strikes on nations hosting American forces as an interim deal to end the war further unravelled.

Days of retaliatory strikes across the Middle East by Iran — and both nations’ attempts to assert control of the waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas trade passes during peacetime — threaten to push the region back to all-out war.

The US first imposed the blockade in mid-April and then lifted it in mid-June, a day after signing the interim deal that set a 60-day period for negotiations over issues like Iran’s nuclear programme, but talks have stalled as fighting over the strait has intensified.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened on Wednesday to halt all energy exports from the Middle East over the blockade.

“The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one,” it said.

When US President Donald Trump announced the return of the blockade on Monday, he also said he would impose a 20% fee on ships passing through the strait. But he dropped the plan to collect fees hours before resuming the blockade, citing requests from allies in the Persian Gulf.

The US carried out another wave of strikes as it reimposed the blockade, striking dozens of targets over seven hours, the US military’s Central Command said on Wednesday.

Missile alert warnings went out in Bahrain and Kuwait early on Wednesday morning as they faced incoming Iranian fire, something that has been a daily occurrence, further straining a ceasefire in the war. Jordan also said it shot down three incoming Iranian missiles. Iran claimed attacks on the three nations.

US Navy Admiral Brad Cooper, who leads Central Command, said in a statement that Iran had launched dozens of missiles and drones at neighbouring Gulf Arab countries.

“US forces are holding Iran accountable for unwarranted aggression that continues to endanger innocent lives,” Admiral Cooper said.

There are at least 19 US warships in the Arabian Sea, including two aircraft carriers and an amphibious assault ship with more than 1,000 marines aboard. Central Command also said in a social media post that there are “hundreds of military aircraft operating across the Middle East”.

When the US and Israel launched the war on Iran on February 28, Tehran effectively shut the passage by attacking and threatening ships. That sent the price of oil, fertiliser and other goods soaring.

Iran has more recently attacked ships moving through the strait on a route near Oman overseen by the US military that is outside Tehran’s control, setting off the recent violence. The US has threatened to reopen the strait by force — but experts say that would require a much bigger armada, if not tens of thousands of ground troops.

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, criticised America’s ongoing attacks targeting his country.

“The US is the aggressor, not the victim,” he wrote to the world body’s leader, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

https://x.com/CENTCOM/status/2077214603713359959?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Mr Trump told Fox News Channel on Tuesday night that more US strikes against Iran were coming over the next two days and that bridges and power plants could be targets by next week unless negotiations resume.

“You better make a deal, or you’re not going to have anything left,” Mr Trump warned.

Regional mediators, meanwhile, are still trying to get the United States and Iran back to the negotiating table.