The United States has reinstated its naval blockade on Iranian ports, effectively ending the Memorandum of Understanding with the Islamic Republic, which responded with force.
The decision was announced by President Donald Trump, who said on July 13 that the U.S. would be managing the Strait of Hormuz going forward, charging fees to vessels transiting the waterway.
Iran responded later that same day, reasserting its control over the strategic waterway by targeting two tankers belonging to the United Arab Emirates.
The Emirati Ministry of Defence confirmed that two national oil tankers, the Mombasa and the Al Bahiyah, were hit in Omani territorial waters. The attack killed one crew member aboard the Mombasa and injured eight others.
The attack triggered another clash between the U.S. and Iran that continued overnight into July 14.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces had struck military targets across southern Iran, including coastal defense systems, missile and drone sites, and maritime capabilities.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) struck weapons support depots, a satellite communications center, troop accommodations, and several military radar systems in Bahrain — including a Patriot radar, an air-control radar, and a C-RAM early warning system — along with the Fifth Fleet’s fuel storage facilities and a facility housing personnel at an air base in Jordan.
A Norwegian tanker, the Stolt Magnesium, was also targeted while transiting the Arabian Sea off the coast of Oman.
The IRGC launched a further wave of strikes later on July 14, hitting warehouses storing weapons and parts for naval vessels and aircraft at Bahrain’s Sheikh Isa base, and targeting the MQ-9 Reaper drone deployment ramp at Kuwait’s Ali Al Salem Air Base.
The clashes continued overnight into July 15, with CENTCOM announcing additional strikes on missile and drone sites, naval capabilities, and coastal defense systems in southern Iran.
The IRGC also struck overnight, hitting the U.S. Army’s logistics and support center at Mina Abdullah, Kuwait, along with the NSI Management Center, a command-and-control center, warehouses of military parts and equipment, and fuel depots belonging to the Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, as well as aircraft shelters housing F-15, F-16, and F-35 fighter jets and several MQ-9 drones at al-Azraq Airbase in Jordan.
The U.S. decision to reinstate the blockade was the primary cause of the current escalation, but Trump vowed that strikes on the Islamic Republic would continue, renewing threats against Iranian infrastructure and energy sector.
The escalation has jolted global energy markets, sending Brent crude to a six-year one-day high near $83 a barrel. China continues to absorb the shock through drawn-down reserves and rerouted Russian supply; India faces mounting economic costs despite Russian-crude waivers; and the EU — though less exposed on gas than in 2022 — remains vulnerable to oil price spikes and a renewed reliance on Russian LNG.
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