The US launched strikes on Iran early Tuesday morning, hours after President Donald Trump said Washington was “reinstating” a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump separately suggested the United States will charge other ships for safe passage, upending hundreds of years of American policy supporting freedom of navigation across the globe.
Iran responded with attacks targeting Bahrain, Jordan and two tankers associated with the United Arab Emirates traveling through the strait, killing one mariner and wounding eight. The Emirates threatened to retaliate against Iran, potentially drawing the nation that is home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai back into fighting with Tehran.
The attacks come as Iran and the US vie for control of the strait through which a fifth of all traded crude oil and natural gas once passed in peacetime. The price of benchmark Brent crude oil rose to a one-month high of over $84 in trading early Tuesday, still well below the nearly $120 reached at the height of the war but threatening to make costs everywhere higher.
It also further shredded a ceasefire in place from an interim agreement between Iran and the US to end the war. The accord is now almost halfway through the 60-day period in which they were supposed to negotiate a final accord, which also was meant to address Iran’s disputed nuclear program and other issues.
A US air base in Jordan was targeted by Iranian ballistic missiles on Tuesday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said, while calling on Jordanians to dismantle American bases in the kingdom.
“You know very well that not only do we not have any enmity with your country, but we also love you, the noble people, who understand the pain and oppression of the Palestinian people more than any other nation,” the IRGC said in a statement carried by Fars News.
Jordan’s armed forces said on Tuesday they intercepted and shot down four missiles that entered Jordanian airspace from Iranian territory, according to state news agency.
The United Arab Emirates’ Defense Ministry said early Tuesday that Iran attacked two tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, killing one mariner and wounding eight.
The Emirati Defense Ministry said Iran launched two cruise missiles at the tankers Mombasa and Al Bahiyah. The attacks set both tankers ablaze, though the fires were extinguished.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed the attack on the tankers, saying the vessels “ignored repeated warnings.”
“They chose to pass through a minefield and were subsequently targeted and disabled,” the Guard said.
The Emirati Defense Ministry said the attack on the tankers killed one Indian national and wounded six Indians and two Ukrainians.
“The UAE reserves its full right to respond to this escalation and to take all necessary measures to protect its territory, its citizens and residents,” the Defense Ministry added.
The Emirates used similar language before launching attacks against Iran during the war. Fighter jets could be heard overheard Tuesday morning in Dubai.
Bahrain also came under renewed attack on Tuesday morning as Iran retaliated over the latest round of US airstrikes. Bahrain sounded its missile alert sirens three times, urging the public to seek shelter. Explosions were heard in the Bahraini capital Manama. There was no word on any damage or casualties from the attack.
Overnight, US forces completed their latest wave of strikes on Iran, which the US Central Command began earlier in the day at Trump’s direction.
The five hours of US strikes were the third consecutive night of attacks against Iran as Trump reinstated a blockade of Iranian shipping and proposed charging a 20% fee to guard the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian media reported strikes on a number of the cities and said four people had been wounded and rescue operations were underway.
But on Tuesday, oil minister Mohsen Paknejad insisted Iran’s oil exports were continuing as usual.Trump said Monday he would probably soon order a strike on the Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site.
Asked about Pickaxe, which was not among the three nuclear facilities targeted by the US last year, Trump said the US was closely surveilling it.
“Pickaxe is a possible target for a nice big fat shot right near the front door,” he said. “We see no activity there. They’re not doing well with their nuclear situation… We’ll probably give Pickaxe a shot relatively soon.”
Satellite images released earlier this month showed recent construction and vehicle activity at Pickaxe, which is tunneled into a mountain near the main Natanz nuclear facility. The exact purpose of the site is not known, and inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency have never been granted access.
US strikes targeted port city of Bushehr, Iranian state media says
US strikes hit the port city of Bushehr, which hosts a nuclear power plant, local authorities say, as fighting between Tehran and Washington escalates.
“Four points in the city of Bushehr were hit by enemy projectiles at noon (0830 GMT),” deputy provincial governor Ehsan Jahanian is quoted by official news agency IRNA as saying, blaming the attacks on the United States.
It is unclear if the nuclear facility was hit.
5 explosions heard near Strait of Hormuz’s Bandar Abbas, Iranian state broadcaster says
Iranian state television reports that five explosions were heard around the port city of Bandar Abbas, near the Strait of Hormuz, which has been at the center of renewed Iran-US fighting.
“A few minutes ago, five explosions were heard west of Bandar Abbas,” the state broadcaster says, without providing further details.
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