File image of the Strait of Hormuz
Q&A: US War on Iran — Why Clashes Resumed in Strait of Hormuz…and What Happens Next
EA on International Media: Trump Camp’s “Limbo” in Its War on Iran
EA on WION: What Now For Iran After Funeral of Supreme Leader?
UPDATES: US-Israel Wars, Day 131 — Funeral Procession for Iran’s Assassinated Supreme Leader
UPDATE 1735 GMT:
Two US soldiers were killed and one is missing after an Iranian ballistic missile attack on Jordan on Friday.
Four troops were wounded, hospitalized, and discharged.
UPDATE 1408 GMT:
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi says Tehran has suspended its commitments under the Memorandum of Understanding as “the US has violated and suspended all its commitments within the framework of the Islamabad MoU” with its attacks.
UPDATE 1155 GMT:
Updating the tolls from US attacks since July 6, Iran’s Health Ministry says at least 50 people have been killed and more than 500 wounded.
UPDATE 1037 GMT:
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation says one of its oil facilities was hit by “repeated Iranian attacks”, causing significant material damage and injuries.
Air raid sirens sounded in Bahrain for the sixth time in the last few hours. The Interior Ministry told people to “remain calm and head to the nearest safe place”.
Jordan said it shot down four drones in its airspace over the past 24 hours.
UPDATE 0707 GMT:
A US attack that hit water desalination pumps in southern Iran has disrupted the supply of drinking water to around 10,000 in 20 villages, says Hamzeh Pour, the CEO of the Hormozgan Water and Wastewater Company.
Pour said the attack on the coastal village of Bunji was one of “a series of crimes and terrorist attacks”. He asserted, “These villages are facing a severe water shortage.”
UPDATE 0700 GMT:
Kuwait’s Energy Ministry says an Iranian attack set a fire at a power generation and water desalination plant.
Several power generation units have been shut down amid efforts to contain the fire and carry out repairs.
The Iranian army said it targeted an airbase in Bahrain with drones, firing on aircraft shelters and parking areas, fuel storage tanks, and several connecting bridges.
Bahrain’s army said air defense systems thwarted the attacks.
Jordan’s army said it shot down 10 Iranian missiles with no casualties or damage.
UPDATE, JULY 18:
The US has carried out a seventh consecutive night of strikes inside Iran.
Explosions were reported on Friday night in the cities of Sirik, Ahvaz and Yazd. Earlier in the day, the US struck bridges in the Hormozgan Province in southern Iran, killing at least seven people, as they tried to cut access to the port of Bandar Abbas. A tower in the port of Chabahar was also toppled, and the Americans targeted key electrical infrastructure and Iranshahr airport.
The renewed US strikes have killed at least 38 people and wounded more than 400, said the Iranian Health Ministry.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said two oil tankers hit mines in the Strait of Hormuz. US Central Command denied the claim.
The Guards retaliated throughout Friday with attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Oman, and even Qatar, the mediators between the US and Iran.
Kuwaiti authorities said the Iranians hit a power and desalination plant. The country relies on desalination for about 90% of its drinking water.
UPDATE 1343 GMT:
Kuwait’s military says several personnel were injured in Iranian attacks on “several facilities and camps”.
Lieutenant General Khaled Dirj Saad Al-Shreian, the Army Chief of Staff of the Army, visited the wounded personnel.
UPDATE 1004 GMT:
A woman has been killed and her 1-year-old child critically injured in US attacks on Bandar Abbas in southern Iran.
Seven other people were wounded.
Authorities have restricted passenger train departures from Bandar Abbas station because of US attacks on a railway point in Hormozgan Province.
UPDATE 1001 GMT:
Iran’s Energy Ministry has asked consumers to reduce electricity use amid US strikes on energy infrastructure in the south.
The Ministry urged people to switch off air conditioners in peak hours “to help ensure a stable electricity supply in the southern provinces, which are currently facing extreme heat and attacks on electricity supply facilities”.
UPDATE 0957 GMT:
Kuwait’s Energy Ministry said one of its power and water desalination plants was attacked by Iran, setting afire and damaging the facility.
The fire was extinguished, and technical teams worked to restore the electricity grid. However, the Ministry urged the public to conserve energy.
UPDATE 0832 GMT:
Only three commodity vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, the fewest daily transits since May.
Most ships halted or making U-turns after Iranian attacks on vessels and the resumption of a US blockade on Iran-related shipping.
On Wednesday, 11 vessels crossed the Strait. Before the US-Israel War, the daily average was around 125.
UPDATE 0829 GMT:
A tanker was hit by an unknown projectile on Thursday, about 19 nautical miles east of Khasab, Oman, reports the UK Maritime Trade Operations center.
The crew is safe and no environmental impact has been observed.
UPDATE 0741 GMT:
The exiled Iranian Kurdish party Komala says strikes killed eight of its armed members and wounded others in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Komala’s Idriss Kohlwazi said Iran attacked a camp near the city of Sulaimaniyah early this morning.
UPDATE 0645 GMT:
Iranian State news agency IRNA says eight people were killed overnight by US strikes on Hormozgan Province in southern Iran. Six bridges were hit.
IRNA reported that 20 people were injured across several provinces.
The maritime control tower of the Shahid Kalantari port in Chabahar in Sistan and Baluchestan Province in southeast Iran was targeted for a third time and “completely destroyed”.
UPDATE 0452 GMT:
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say they attacked a US special operations command center on the al-Tanf base in eastern Syria, retaliating for the killing of Iranian soldiers by American strikes.
The Syrian Government denied the claim.
The Guards said it also targeted US military infrastructure in Kuwait with drones, claiming it hit a missile defense radar, several weapons depots, and two HIMARS surface-to-surface missile launchers.
They also claimed the destruction of a US air control radar in Oman’s Ghanim region and a maritime control radar on rocks in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Jordanian army said it shot down three Iranian missiles. There were no casualties.
UPDATE, JULY 17:
American forces boarded the M/T Wen Yao in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday “to ensure full compliance with the ongoing US naval blockade,” Central Command announced.
CENTCOM said it “redirected” three commercial vessels “trying to run the blockade” since it took effect at 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday. A US aircraft fired on and disabled an unladen oil tanker that tried to break the blockade on Wednesday.
Witnesses reported the striking of two bridges west of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran, killing three people and wounding nine. Seven people were wounded in a US strike on the port city, and two others were injured on the Bandar Abbas railway junction station.
Iranian state media said US strikes hit an airport and four other bridges in the south of the country.
UPDATE 1638 GMT:
The US has renewed attacks on Qeshm Island and on the port of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran.
UPDATE 1209 GMT:
The Kuwaiti army says, “Kuwaiti air defences are currently engaging hostile drone attacks following the Iranian aggression. Any explosions that may be heard are the result of air defence systems intercepting hostile targets.
UPDATE 1121 GMT:
A drone has struck a ship near port in Iraq’s Basra Province.
The vessel, carrying HS-branded cars”, had arrived from the UAE on Thursday and was hit near an oil terminal. Crude oil loading has been suspended at all Iraqi terminals.
UPDATE 1111 GMT:
Iran has accused the US of a “barbaric attack” near a children’s cancer hospital in Ahvaz in the southwest of the country this morning.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said the hospital was forced to evacuate 211 chemotherapy patients, causing “severe suffering and anxiety” for the children receiving treatment.
A staff member of the Baghaei Specialized Hospital said:
These are special patients, including cancer patients, who are hospitalized here. Unfortunately, the area around here has been bombed heavily. Some of the patients [were] on oxygen and ventilators.
Some people had children in their arms, some had IVs in their hands and some were in wheelchairs. Everyone went outside.
UPDATE 1105 GMT:
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has told US counterpart Pete Hegseth that Israel will maintain its occupation zones in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria.
Katz “emphasized Israel’s determination to remain in the security zones in Syria, Gaza, and Lebanon in order to protect Israel’s borders and the communities near the border from the threats posed by jihadist forces”, his office said in a statement.
Israel has agreed in talks with the Lebanese Government to withdrawal from two small “pilot zones” in the south of the country, but Katz has made clear that there will no other Israeli pullbacks.
The Israeli military is consolidating the occupation by destroying homes and holding positions such as the historic Beaufort Castle. Katz has said at least 200,000 Lebanese will be displaced.
UPDATE 1058 GMT:
India’s Modi Government has ordered shipowners not to deploy Indian crew members on vessels that must pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
Several Indian crew have been killed or injured by Iranian attacks on shipping during the US-Israel War. Two Indians were slain earlier this week when the Cyprus-flagged, UAE-operated container ship GFS Galaxy was struck.
UPDATE 0611 GMT:
Iran has freed US citizen Dena Karari, held in the country since December 2024.
Karari’s lawyer Jared Genser said she had been barred from leaving on “bogus charges”.
At least three other Americans — two men and an unidentified woman — are still held by Iran.
Kamran Hekmati, a 70-year-old Jewish-Iranian jeweller who traveled to Iran in May 2025, has been held in Tehran’s Evin prison. He was sentenced to two years for going to Israel to attend his son’s bar mitzvah.
Journalist Reza Valizadeh, is serving 10 years in Tehran’s Evin Prison on charges of collaborating with a hostile government.
UPDATE, JULY 16:
Enforcing its blockade on Iranian ports, the US military fired on an oil tanker attempting to reach Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday.
The US navy reimposed the blockade on Tuesday night as clashes escalated in the Strait of Hormuz, in southern Iran, and across the region. It had been lifted after the Trump camp and Tehran signed a Memorandum of Understanding last month.
Central Command said it disabled the unladen oil tanker by firing Hellfire missiles into the ship’s smokestack after it ignored multiple warnings.
The US targeted coastal defenses and missile sites on Wednesday evening, its second set of strikes during the day.
The American reported expanded the attacks into northern Iran. Air defenses were heard throughout the capital Tehran early Thursday. A railway bridge in Aqqala and a civilian airport in Semnan were targeted.
Iran responded on Wednesday with attacks targeting US military positions in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan. There was no immediate confirmation of Iranian claims of damage.
The Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday morning that they launched two waves of missiles on a US airbase in Jordan. Amman said it intercepted eight missiles.
The Guards added that drones targeted “radar systems, a Patriot air defense system, and fuel storage facilities at Ali Al Salem Air Base” in Kuwait and US military facilities at the Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain.
UPDATE 1919 GMT:
The US military has launched a second wave of strikes against Iran today.
Central Command announced the attacks at 22:30 (19:00 GMT).
Explosions have been reported in Bandar Abbas, Ahwaz, and Chabahar in southern Iran.
UPDATE 1912 GMT:
Kuwait’s Defense Ministry says at least four cruise missiles and 21 drones from Iran were intercepted on Wednesday.
“Iranian aggression targeted a number of vital facilities, resulting in material damage,” said a Ministry spokesperson. No injuries were reported.
Five drone attacks were reported on Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. One drone was shot down near the US Consulate, starting a fire and triggering the mission’s air defence system.
Two other drones crashed near a US base on the outskirts of the city, and one was shot down over Hariri airbase, east of the city. A drone exploded near the outer wall of Erbil airport, delaying some scheduled flights.
UPDATE 1909 GMT:
At least 35 people have been killed and 300 wounded in the US attacks on Iran this month, says the Iranian Health Ministry.
UPDATE 1301 GMT:
The number of vessels crossing the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday has been revised to 21, with moth carrying crude, LPG, methanol and iron ore.
Shipping data monitor Kpler said, “However, the security outlook deteriorated further as three additional attacks off Oman were verified, bringing the reported toll to 56 confirmed incidents and 17 seafarer fatalities.”
It noted, “The absence of Omani route transits highlights a growing loss of confidence in that corridor, while shipping continues to favour Iranian-approved routing.”
UPDATE 1050 GMT:
Iran has condemned British national Craig Foreman to another two-year prison sentence.
Foreman and his wife Lindsay were sentenced to 10 years in prison in February after they convicted of espionage.
Foreman’s family said the term was extended because he spoke to the media.
The Foremans were arrested in January 2025 while travelling through Iran during an around-the-world motorcycle trip. They are being held in Tehran’s Evin Prison.
Iranian authorities also hanged another participant in nationwide protests in January.
Mohammad Amini Dehaghani was convicted of “moharebeh” (war against God) and “corruption on earth”. State media claimed he threw a Molotov cocktail on January 9 outside the governor’s office in Dehaghan, setting it alight.
Iran is alongside China as the world’s leading executioner per capita.
UPDATE 0806 GMT:
Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani says more than 30 people have been killed in southern Iran by US attacks in recent days.
The Iranian Health Ministry said more than 260 people have been injured, six of them children.
UPDATE 0759 GMT:
Bushehr Governor Mohammad Mozafari says the US has attacked three locations in the port city in southern Iran.
There are no reports of casualties.
UPDATE 0738 GMT:
The Iranian army says at least seven personnel were killed and others wounded in US strikes on a military base in Bampur in southeast Iran overnight.
The army said 13 missiles hit a guesthouse, guard posts and accommodation. It promised a “decisive response”.
UPDATE 0722 GMT:
An Indian national, missing after an Iranian attack on a commercial vessel off the coast of Oman, is dead.
Heramb Karmarkar, 30, was a marine engineer on the Cyprus-flagged container ship that was struck on Sunday.
Another crew member was killed immediately.
UPDATE 0604 GMT:
Eleven vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, nine of them on the Iranian route.
The ships with Iranian exports included one large tanker carrying 2 million barrels of crude oil a medium-range tanker with refined products, and two tankers carrying liquefied petroleum gas.
There were no recorded entries or exits for tankers to load oil and gas from Gulf States.
UPDATE, JULY 15:
US forces carried out a fourth night of strikes against Iran and declared the reimposition of a naval blockade on Iranian ports.
Explosions were reported near the port city of Bandar Abbas and on Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they responded with targeting of command-and-control, logistics, fuel, and military equipment facilities of the US 5th Fleet in Bahrain.
The Guards also claimed attacks on a US military logistics and support center in Kuwait and on facilities on the Azraq base in Jordan.
They said the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the “end of America’s evils”.
UPDATE 1849 GMT:
The office of former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has pushed the assertions of US officials, circulated by The New York Times, that he was groomed by Israel as an intelligence asset from 2024.
The officials claimed that Ahmadinjead met Israeli officials, including Mossad head David Barnea, in Budapest, Hungary with a view to installing him as Iran’s new leader.
The statement from Ahmadinejad’s office denied “Hollywood-style claims” designed to undermine his popularity. The report was “psychological warfare” which “sought to exploit the political sensitivities arising from military threats”.
UPDATE 1238 GMT:
The US carried out strikes on four areas in the city of Bushehr in southern Iran around noon (0830 GMT).
The US also struck the city of Abadan, with the oldest oil refinery in the Middle East, and the port city of Mahshahr between 1:25 and 1:30 p.m.
UPDATE 0858 GMT:
Iranian State media says three people were killed in a US strike on Hormozgan Province in southern Iran.
An environmental protection post and a fodder warehouse were struck. The victims were members of the family of a park ranger, who was unharmed.
UPDATE 0746 GMT:
Two more tankers have been struck in the Strait of Hormuz.
A vessel was hit by a missile while moving southeast of Oman’s Limah area, says the UK Maritime Trade Operations.
Later a ship was struck by an unknown projectile on the starboard side engine room, as it passed northeast of Qalhat, Oman. All crew are safe and accounted for with no environmental impact.
The Norwegian-founded, Dutch-operated shipping firm Stolt Tankers said its Stolt Magnesium was the attacked ship.
UPDATE 0617 GMT:
Iran has retaliated against the latest US attacks by firing on Jordan and Bahrain.
A Jordanian military official said four Iranian missiles were intercepted. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they targeted an American airbase.
Sirens sounded four times in Bahrain, with the Guards claiming they destroyed a Patriot radar, the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet air control radar, and an early warning system.
UPDATE 0600 GMT:
US forces have carried out a third consecutive night of attacks on Iran.
Central Command said a five-hour wave targeted Abu Musa island and areas in southern Iran including Bushehr, Jask, Konarak, and Bandar Abbas. Missiles were fired on Iranian coastal defense systems, missile and drone sites, and maritime capabilities.”
The US Navy said it will renew a blockade on Iranian ports, oil terminals, and coastal areas on Tuesday night.
Any vessel suspected of entering or departing the blockaded area without authorization is subject to interception, diversion and capture. Noncompliant vessels may be legally compelled with force.
Neutral transit through the Strait of Hormuz heading to or from non-Iranian destinations will not be impeded.
UPDATE 0553 GMT:
The price of Brent crude oil has risen more than 10.5% since Monday, reaching $84.01 per barrel this morning.
The price had sunk to just over $70 on July 2, with hopes that a deal could be reached on a Memorandum of Understanding to end the US-Israel Wars. It was as high as almost $120 in the opening weeks of the war.
UPDATE, JULY 14:
The UAE says two of its tankers were targeted by two Iranian cruise missiles in the Omani route of the Strait of Hormuz.
An Indian crew member was killed and eight crew wounded, four of them seriously.
UPDATE 1808 GMT:
The Saudi-backed governing council in Yemen says Houthi insurgency fired a missile at Saudi Arabia after the council’s attack on the Houthi-controlled airport in the capital Sana’a.
“Air defenses intercepted a ballistic missile threat launched by the terrorist Houthi militia towards the southern region,” posted council spokesman Turki al-Maliki.
UPDATE 1256 GMT:
Citing former US officials, The New York Times claims that Israel engaged in a multi-year effort to recruit Iran’s former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, re-installing himself in the office.
The officials said the head of Israel’s intelligence service Mossad, David Barnea, traveled to the Hungarian capital Budapest in 2024 to meet Ahmadinejad. Mossad then notified the CIA that it established contact with Ahmadinejad, the Iranian President from 2005 to 2013.
The Israelis gave money to Mr. Ahmadinejad for housing and travel. Israel’s operatives met him abroad on several occasions, including during his trips to Budapest.
The campaign allegedly culminated in a strike on Ahmadinejad’s bodyguards to free him from house arrest on the first day of the US-Israel War on Iran on February 28.
A car with Mossad operatives took Ahmadinejad to a safe house after the attack, but he later left as he grew disillusioned with Israel’s plan.
Ahmadinejad’s current status is unclear. Four senior Iranian officials said he is under house arrest, in the custody of the Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence branch.
The former President was seen briefly = at the funeral for the assassinated Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. He was surrounded by guards, masked, and wearing a heavy coat.
UPDATE 1229 GMT:
Yemen’s internationally-recognized governing council has bombed the airport in the capital Sana’a, controlled by the Houthi insurgency, to prevent an Iranian plane from landing.
The council said it failed to convince the Houthi delegation that went to Tehran for the late Supreme Leader’s funeral to board a Yemenia flight instead.
The Saudi-backed government’s Defense Ministry said, “The terrorist Houthi militias – backed by the Iranian regime – prevented Yemeni national aircraft from landing at the airport in the capital, Sanaa, while insisting on allowing an Iranian plane to violate Yemeni territory. Consequently, the airport runway was targeted.”
The Houthis said the Iranian plane, carrying the Yemeni delegation, later landed at the airport.
The leader of the governing council, Rashad al-Alimi, subsequently said, “I have also ordered that the scope of the confrontation not be expanded in a manner that would achieve Iran’s objective of dragging Yemen and its people into wars.”
However, the council ordered the closure of all airports in Yemen, indicating it would deny clearance for entering Yemen airspace.
UPDATE 1005 GMT:
Only 14 vessels were confirmed to have crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, the lowest level in at least a month.
Confirmed crossings fell 52% from Friday to Sunday.
Other ships may have transited with their transmitters turned off, using “dark routes”.
UPDATE 1003 GMT:
The Deputy Governor of Isfahan Province in central Iran said one person was killed and seven injured in a US attack on a military base in the city of Nain.
UPDATE 0955 GMT:
Iran Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Iran will not abide by the Memorandum of Understanding if the Trump camp failed to uphold its commitments to end its war.
“Each time that the other party has failed to meet its obligations, we did not uphold ours… We will continue to act in this manner,” Baghaei said. “No one can accuse the Islamic Republic of Iran of violating its promises.”
UPDATE, JULY 13:
The US continued its attacks on Iran throughout Sunday, and Tehran again retaliated by launching missiles on regional bases hosting American forces.
The US military focused once more on the ports of Bander Abbas and Sirik in southern Iran and on Qeshm Island. Central Command said the intent was “to continue degrading their ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the Strait of Hormuz”.
Jordan’s army said it had shot down four missiles fired by Iran in response. Kuwait’s armed forces said they were intercepting “hostile aerial targets” on Monday, as Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they targeted a US surface-to-surface missile base. Bahrain activated air raid alerts three times today.
On Sunday, Iran attacked Qatar, a mediator of the war, for the first time since April. The UAE, which reportedly paid Iran $3 billion to avoid further damage, was targeted for the first time since early May.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the US attacks had “rendered futile all efforts of the past few months to reduce tension and establish peace in the West Asian region”.
The US regime has also caused the return of insecurity in the strait of Hormuz and disruption of international commercial shipping by openly interfering in the process of Iran implementing the necessary arrangements in the strait of Hormuz.
The Ministry also said Saturday’s talks between Iran and Oman in Muscat, focused on arrangements to manage the Strait, could not reach a result because of “overt and covert” US pressure on the Omanis.
Oman has proposed a dual route through the Strait, with Iran controlling the northern and the Omanis the southern. The Iranian delegation has taken the proposal back to Tehran for deliberations.
The Trump Administration is trying to avoid a deal which confirms Iranian control of the waterway, through which around 20% of the world’s maritime oil and gas passes. It is encouraging vessels to use a route along the Omani coast.
Iran’s targeting of ships using that route without Tehran’s permissions has sparked several rounds of clashes since a ceasefire was declared on April 7.
UPDATE 1349 GMT:
Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority says it is not possible to pass through the Strait of Hormuz because of “the recent illegal movements of the United States military forces in the region”.
The Authority said in a statement, “As soon as stability and calm are restored, all requests will be reviewed based on the schedule, and the necessary permits will be issued.”
US Central Command insisted that Iran does not control the Strait and “traffic is flowing”. It said American forces are “positioned and prepared to ensure that freedom of navigation remains available despite unwarranted Iranian aggression, harassment, threats, and arbitrary declarations”.
UPDATE 1202 GMT:
US strikes have killed another Iranian soldier.
Local media named the victim as Lieutenant Hamidreza Dehghani of the Iranian Navy. He was slain during an attack on the port of Jask.
Sources told Al Jazeera that another member of the military was killed in Bushehr in southwestern Iran.
The toll, including civilians is now 19 killed with more than 100 wounded in US strikes over the past four days.
UPDATE 1200 GMT:
The US Embassy in Oman has warned American citizens to shelter in place if they are in the city of Duqm or governorate of Musandam “due to recent activity”.
“To the extent possible, remain in your residence, hotel, or another structure, and stay away from windows,” the Embassy said in a statement. “We are monitoring the situation in the Middle East closely and will keep you updated so you can make decisions about your safety.”
UPDATE 1148 GMT:
The UK Maritime Trade Operations center has advised shipping that the maritime security threat level in the Strait of Hormuz remains “severe”.
The center noted that, despite Iran announcing the Strait is closed, the “southern route” along the Omani coast is still available and “has been expanded to accommodate two-way traffic”.
However, it advised mariners to be wary of mine dangers and strongly encouraged coordination with the US navy’s entity monitoring and coordinating with merchant ships.
Only two oil products tankers have been seen approaching the Strait on Sunday.
Qatar’s Transport Ministry urged all vessel owners and users to “temporarily suspend navigation and marine activities” until further notice.
The ministry cited “public safety” and included pleasure boats, fishing boats, and “water motorcycles” in the suspension.
UPDATE, JULY 12:
The US and Iran have again exchanged strikes as Tehran declared the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they struck a vessel travelling on an unapproved route, with its automatic identification system turned off, and warned that any retaliation would be met with a “severe response”.
US Central Command said a Cyprus-flagged container ship suffered “significant engine room damage”, with a crew member missing. The UK Maritime Trade Operations said the vessel, nine nautical miles east of Oman, was struck in the rear and set afire.
Central Command soon said American forces had attacked at least 140 targets in Iran, including missile and drone sites, naval capabilities, ammunition depots, communication networks, and surveillance locations.
“The United States is imposing a heavy cost by continuing to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the strait,” CENTCOM proclaimed.
Iran then retaliated. The UAE and Kuwait said their air defenses were engaging missile and drone threats, and Bahrain sounded air raid sirens.
The Revolutionary Guards said they struck and disabled a second vessel in the Strait. The US airbase at Al Udeid in Qatar was targeted with ballistic missiles, destroying its fighter jet maintenance center and command and control facility, the Guards declared.
The Guards also claimed a “heavy and surprise” attack on logistics support centres and refuelling platforms used by US aircraft carriers at the port of Duqm in Oman.
The Strait is now closed “until further notice”, at least until “the end of US interference in this region”, the Guards said.
Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, “The era of one-sided deals is OVER. We told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking.”
Earlier Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr Albusaidi to exchange “views on appropriate mechanisms for the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz”.
UPDATE 2120 GMT:
Oman has given Iran a proposal for the management of the Strait of Hormuz, says “a source with knowledge” of Saturday’s talks between the two countries.
The source said traffic through the Strait would transit via two separately-controlled routes, one off Iran’s coast and one closer to Oman, to be managed by each country. No tolls would be charged on either route.
UPDATE 1017 GMT:
The Israeli army has blown up homes in the Hula municipality in the Nabatieh district of southern Lebanon.
Israeli drones attacked the municipality of Kfar Tebnit.
In southern Syria, Israeli forces briefly pushed into the village of al-Samdaniyah in Quneitra Province. Three Israeli army vehicles established a temporary checkpoint at a roundabout, where soldiers searched passersby before eventually withdrawing.
Israeli forces conducted a similar operation on Thursday, when more than 15 Israeli army vehicles moved into al-Asha village in Quneitra. They searched a house and a warehouse before pulling out.
UPDATE 0806 GMT:
The Trump Administration is demanding that Iran publicly acknowledge that the Strait of Hormuz is open, with a pledge to stop firing on commercial ships.
Three US officials said on Friday that the message has been conveyed directly and through regional mediators.
One summarized:
We want them to publicly say that they will stop shooting at ships and explicitly, or at least implicitly, acknowledge that they screwed up. We are working on that now.
We expect the Iranians to say…that every channel in the Strait will be open and that it will be toll-free.
Another blustered, “If it is not their position [by Saturday], it is not gonna be a great day for them.”
UPDATE, JULY 11:
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has denounced the Trump Administration for failing to uphold the Memorandum of Understanding.
Araghchi cited the Administration’s withdrawal of sanctions waivers on Iranian oil. The US reimposed the sanctions earlier this week after Iran attacked three vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Iran has so far kept its word, unlike the so-called US Treasury Secretary who is violating Para 9 of the MoU,” Araghchi posted. “The violation follows other violations and missteps by the United States.”
The Foreign Minister said the “reality check” was that “there can only be mutual compliance”.
UPDATE 1528 GMT:
Shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz fell again on Thursday.
The maritime monitoring firm Kpler reported 22 transits yesterday, following 30 on Wednesday.
Wartime crossings peaked last week at around 70 crossings amid a US-Iran ceasefire. Normal traffic through the waterway is around 135 vessels per day.
Of Thursday’s crossings, all but one was on the Iranian route. Th other transit was on the Omani route backed by the US.
UPDATE 1211 GMT:
Amnesty International is calling for a war crimes investigation into three Israeli air attacks on southern Lebanon that killed 24 civilians and wounded 18 in March.
The attacks struck homes in the Tyre, Sidon and Nabatieh districts. Among the slain were 12 children and six women, one of whom was preganant.
Amnesty said its investigation found grounds to conclude that Israeli forces violated international humanitarian law by striking civilians or civilian property; failing to distinguish between military and civilian targets; or failing to limit civilian harm.
Amnesty’s Kristine Beckerle said:
Within the space of just a week – the Israeli military obliterated entire families, including a dozen children, in Lebanon, demonstrating a callous disregard for civilian lives.
How many more families will have to pull the body parts of their children from the rubble before this devastating cycle of war crimes ends?
The international community must act now: States must impose an immediate comprehensive arms embargo on Israel and use universal and extraterritorial jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute those responsible.
UPDATE 0557 GMT:
No large vessel has crossed the Strait of Hormuz via the US-coordinated route while broadcasting their location since Tuesday.
At least two ships are believed to have crossed “dark” with their automatic identification system turned off.
UPDATE 0554 GMT:
The US Strategic Petroleum Reserve has fallen to its lowest level since 1983.
The reserve fell by 6.2 million barrels in the week ending July 3 to 319.5 million barrels.
UPDATE 0550 GMT:
Iranian officials say US strikes on Thursday targeted the perimeter of the Bushehr Nuclear Plant in southern Iran.
“Several areas in Bushehr province were targeted today, including the perimeter of the nuclear power plant, a military base in the town of Choghadak, and a fishing pier in the south of the province,” said Ehsan Jahanian, the Deputy Governor of Bushehr.
UPDATE 1502 GMT:
The Iranian judiciary’s official news agency reports the killing of three Revolutionary Guards troops by US attacks.
The troops were slain in Khuzestan province in southwest Iran.
UPDATE 1448 GMT:
Iranian media say the US attacked an important railway bridge in Golestan Province in northern Iran.
The Ogtay Khan rail bridge was reportedly struck by a US cruise missile on Thursday morning. It connects a strategic chokepoint on Iran’s railway corridor with China and Turkmenistan.
UPDATE 1406 GMT:
The Iranian military says it targeted Jordan’s Muwaffaq Salti airbase, used by US forces, with 10 ballistic missiles.
The Jordanian military said it intercepted eight Iranian missiles fired on its airports with no reports of damage.
UPDATE 1035 GMT:
Iranian State media has reported a US strike on two railway bridges from the capital Tehran to the second city Mashhad.
The assassinated Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is being buried in Mashhad later today.
Train services were suspended as technical and operational teams were dispatched to the scene.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said the attack “undoubtedly constitutes a gross war crime”.
UPDATE 0913 GMT:
A US official says clashes could last a day or two, a week, or a month, as the Trump camp tries to break Iran’s hold on the Strait of Hormuz.
“We’re going to slap them a bit so they understand we’re not fucking around,” the official said.
UPDATE 0849 GMT:
Bahrain’s army says air defense systems “confronted, intercepted and destroyed a number of treacherous Iranian aerial attacks” early this morning.
UPDATE 0625 GMT:
Iran’s Health Ministry says US forces have attacked five provinces in the country over the past two days, killing 14 people and wounding 78.
UPDATE 0547 GMT:
The US military attacked more than 90 targets in the Strait of Hormuz and in southern Iran early Thursday.
The strikes hit bridges, docks, and airports, killing one in Iranshahr and three in Ahvaz. Shrapnel struck a hospital in Chahbahar.
The Revolutionary Guards retaliated to the US attacks by targeting Kuwait’s Camps Arifjan and Ali Al Salem and Bahrain’s Juffair and Sheikh Isa bases.
Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has almost halted. Among larger vessels, only a US-sanctioned supertanker was seen heading out of the Gulf alongside an Iranian-flagged container ship.
Around 14 cargo ships crossed the Strait in both directions on Wednesday, the lowest number since the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding was announced on June 16.
UPDATE, JULY 9:
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has posted:
America still hasn’t learned that bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost-free. Let me put it plainly: if you strike, you’ll get hit. Don’t flail around pointlessly, or you’ll sink even deeper: the Strait of Hormuz will only open with ‘Iranian arrangements,’ not American threats.
UPDATE 2050 GMT:
The US military has carried out another round of strikes on southern Iran.
Iranian media said explosions were heard near Abu Musa Island, Konarak, and Chabahar, with power cuts in the latter area. Air defenses engaged “hostile targets” near Bandar Abbas.
An Iranian military source said a “massive” attack will be launched on US army bases in the region shortly.
UPDATE 1712 GMT:
State news agency IRNA says eight members of the Iranian army’s air and naval forces were killed in US strikes on Bandar Abbas and Bushehr in southern Iran.
UPDATE 1612 GMT:
The price of Brent crude oil, in its sharpest price rise in almost two months, has risen more than 6% to break the $80 per barrel mark.
Brent is at $80.33. West Texas Intermediate has increased 5 1/2% to $75.87.
UPDATE 1412 GMT:
Arsenio Dominguez, the Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization, says almost 6,000 seafarers are stranded in the Strait of Hormuz.
He called for “maximum restraint and de-escalation” amid US and Iranian attacks in the region.
UPDATE 1333 GMT:
The State outlet IRNA said US strikes injured four people, one critically, and heavily damaged maritime infrastructure at the port of Sirik in southern Iran.
The two waves of attacks severely damaged one of the facility’s primary floating piers. Local commercial vessels and nearby telecommunications towers were also hit.
UPDATE 0740 GMT:
Iranian media reports more explosions in the port of Bandar Abbas in the south of the country.
The Revolutionary Guards said a member of its navy was killed in a US drone attack on the port city of Bandar Mahshahr, also on the southern coast.
Air raid sirens have sounded in Bahrain for a fourth time since dawn.
UPDATE 0731 GMT:
The Iranian Foreign Ministry says the Memorandum of Understanding is “ineffective” because of “repeated” US attacks, the Trump Administration’s decision to reimpose sanctions on Iranian oil exports, American interference in arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz, and Israel’s continued strikes on southern Lebanon.
The Ministry warned countries in the region not to allow their territory to be used by the US to launch attacks on Iran.
Speaking to journalists at the NATO Summit in Ankara, Donald Trump said of the talks with Iran.
As far as I am concerned, it’s over. I’ll speak to our negotiators. They want to negotiate. They’re good people. Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, but they have to come back to me. As far as I’m concerned, it’s just a waste of time dealing with [Iran].
ORIGINAL ENTRY, JULY 8: Iran and US have renewed their attacks in and near the Strait of Hormuz, unsettling a ceasefire and jeopardizing talks to end the US-Israel Wars.
The latest cycle of violence was started by drone strikes on three vessels within 24 hours. The attacks began Monday night with the targeting of the Qatar-linked Al Rekayat liquefied natural gas tanker at the mouth of the Strait in the Gulf of Oman.
On Tuesday night the US military fired on more than 80 targets, including Iran’s Qeshm Island and the ports of Sirik and Bandar Abbas in the south of the country. A US official said the targets included Iranian air defense systems, coastal surveillance systems, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles, and drone launch sites.
Iran responded with attacks on US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait, claiming 85 facilities had been targeted. The Kuwaiti army said air defences were confronting “hostile” missile and drone attacks, but there was no confirmation of any damage.
Before striking Iran, the Trump Administration announced that it was revoking a sanctions waiver on the sale of Iranian oil, citing the “wholly unacceptable” attacks on the tankers.
The Trump camp had issued the waivers through August 21 as it engaged in negotiations with Tehran on implementation of a Memorandum of Understanding.
The renewed clashes are threatening the limited resumption of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. At least four oil and gas tankers have turned back from attempted transit. Maritime authorities raised the risk level to “severe”.
