File image.
The United States military renewed strikes against Iran on the afternoon of July 12, provoking an imminent response from the Islamic Republic.
The two sides had exchanged strikes overnight in one of the most violent clashes to take place since they signed a memorandum of understanding to end the war last month. The overnight clash saw the U.S. hit 140 military targets in Iran. The Islamic Republic responded by attacking American military facilities in Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman.
As the U.S. renewed strikes in the afternoon, Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency reported explosions to the east of the port city of Bandar Abbas and in the coastal area around Qeshm Island. Meanwhile, Mehr, another semi-official news agency, said a telecommunications official was killed and two others were injured on Farur Island, near the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Lengeh.
Axios later reported, citing a senior U.S. official, that Iranian missile and air-defense systems targeted small speedboats belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at several locations around the Strait of Hormuz.
As usual, the response from the Islamic Republic came fast. The main target was apparently Kuwait, where the defense ministry said three land border posts in the north of the country and an offshore drilling rig in territorial waters were attacked, causing material damage and injuring one worker.
Ahead of the strikes, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that the Strait of Hormuz is open to all vessels, noting that American military forces are “positioned and prepared” to ensure freedom of navigation.
“Iran does not control the strait,” CENTCOM added. “Traffic is flowing.”
Iran, however, doubled down on insisting that the Strait of Hormuz is again closed to shipping, blaming “illegal movements” by U.S. forces.
“Due to the recent illegal movements of the United States military forces in the region, passage through the Strait of Hormuz is currently not possible,” wrote Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA), the agency Tehran created in May in an attempt to control shipping through the key strait.
“As soon as stability and calm are restored, all requests will be reviewed based on the schedule, and the necessary permits will be issued,” PGSA said on X.
Addressing the recent escalation with Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that the Islamic Republic “agreed to a deal” a day earlier before striking a ship in the Strait of Hormuz with a drone.
“We had meetings with them. They agreed to a deal yesterday. A perfect deal for us. No nuclear… They gave up everything, and then… within an hour, they launched a drone at a ship,” Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“I said, ‘You people are sick, and so it’s one of those things,’” he added, talking about Iran.
Trump insisted that the Strait of Hormuz remains open — despite Iran’s claims to the contrary — and that the U.S. “bombed the hell out of them last night.”
Recent developments indicate that the memorandum of understanding may be nearing collapse. This does not necessarily mean a return to full-scale war, however. The two countries could instead become locked in a prolonged, low-intensity conflict over the Strait of Hormuz — which, of course, would still play in Israel’s favor.
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