The US announced a new round of strikes on Iran, hours after US President Donald Trump said Washington is “reinstating” a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and, in a seeming policy reversal, will charge other ships for safe passage.
All of that comes as Iran has insisted it actually controls the critical waterway, and as the new exchange of fire threatened a return to all-out war.
US Central Command announced on social media that the US military had begun another round of strikes against Iran.
“These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” the US military said.
Trump said “we’re hitting them very heavy tonight” in response to a question from a reporter at the White House.
“We have tremendous amounts of ammunition… and it’ll continue, and we’ll see what happens. But we’re knocking out all of their offensive capability, and we’re controlling the strait,” he said.
“We’re putting the blockade back and it’s a blockade not for anybody but Iran.”
The new round of attacks followed Trump telling conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, “We’re going to hit them very hard tonight and we’re going to hit them hard tomorrow — and there’s not a damn thing they can do about it.”
“They have nothing,” Trump added. “They have nothing going, other than they have big mouths.”
They followed the US changing a policy that, until now, said the strait should remain open to all without tolls — as it was before the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Any attempt by the US or Iran to charge fees would violate global norms on freedom of navigation and raise tensions, likely causing further economic disruption far beyond the region.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 7.8% to $81.92 a barrel, still well below the nearly US$120 reached at the height of the war.
Trump also told Hewitt that the agreement reached last month was “built to test” Iran, adding that “when you’re dealing with sleazebags don’t mean much".
Trump said he questioned why the US was entering into a deal to create a ceasefire with Iran rather than moving toward a full deal first. Trump last week declared the ceasefire was “over".
“They didn’t honour the test,” the president said.
“We are reinstating the THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE,” Trump said on social media. “All other countries will have fair and open use of the Strait.”
The President said the US would be “reimbursed” by 20% of the value of cargo to help cover “any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security”.
Iran asserts it has the right to manage traffic through the Strait and potentially charge fees in accordance with the interim peace deal. It has vowed to fight back against any US interference.
The struggle over the Strait is escalating
The International Maritime Organization, the United Nations agency overseeing international shipping, said it was waiting to find out more about Trump’s proposal but remained opposed to tolls for passage through international waterways.
“There is no legal basis through which to introduce mandatory tolls simply to transit through a strait,” it said in a statement.
A fifth of the world’s oil and gas passed through the Strait before Iran effectively shut it down at the start of the war, driving up global prices of energy, fertiliser and other goods. Traffic had picked up after last month's agreement, but remained well below prewar levels.
The US military said it struck dozens of sites on Monday (local time) in response to an Iranian attack on a container ship the day before, including air defence systems, radar sites, missile and drone equipment, and small boats.
It said it used drone ships to hit an Iranian ship maintenance facility and a submarine on Sunday, calling it a first.
The American military has tried to establish a route through the Strait along the coast of Oman that would be outside of Iranian control. Iran has attacked ships using that route, saying the US is violating the interim peace deal. The US has attacked Iran in response, drawing Iranian attacks on US-allied Arab states. The US also ended waivers allowing Iran to sell crude oil on the open market in US dollars.
The US had opposed charging fees in the Strait
Meeting with Gulf leaders late last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken forcefully against Iran charging fees for transit through the Strait.
“That’s international waterway. There isn’t a nation on Earth that supports having to pay money to go through the Straits,” Rubio told reporters in Bahrain on June 25.
Rubio also said there was “zero support among the Gulf countries for any sort of toll or fees or anything that charges for the use of international waters. The President’s made it clear that’s not going to happen”.
US-allied Arab states report another wave of attacks
Missile alert sirens sounded three times Monday in Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet. There was no immediate word on damage.
Separately, Kuwait's Foreign Ministry said its consulate in Iraq had been attacked. It did not immediately blame anyone for the attack or disclose damages or casualties.
The oil-rich kingdom also condemned Iran and “its factions and militias loyal to it in Iraq” for attacking what it described as “several border points” and a maritime oil drilling platform that belonged to the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation.
Kuwait and Washington share strong ties, and the tiny country along the Persian Gulf hosts several US military bases.
In Jordan, the kingdom's military said it shot down four Iranian missiles in an incident that “resulted in zero casualties or material damage”. Jordan also hosts US military forces and aircraft.
In Iran, authorities reported attacks in Hormozgan, Khuzestan and Markazi provinces and said at least two people were killed, according to state-run IRNA news agency. Semiofficial Iranian media also reported strikes in the eastern Sistan and Baluchestan province, which is on the coast of the Gulf of Oman.
Iran blames the US for the chaos in the region
The attacks on Iran continued hours after the US ended its strikes — again raising the possibility of Gulf Arab states retaliating. There were unclaimed attacks on Iran on Thursday (local time).
A base belonging to the armed wing of an Iranian Kurdish opposition group based in Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region came under drone attack on Monday, according to Rebaz Sharifi, a local commander. There were no immediate details on casualties or damage. No group immediately claimed responsibility.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei blamed Washington for the chaos gripping the region. He said Iran wouldn't agree to visits by the International Atomic Energy Agency to nuclear sites the US bombed in 2025. That's where Tehran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium is believed to be entombed.
Trump suggested last week that the interim deal in the war was “over”. But mediators, including Pakistan, Qatar and Egypt, have continued efforts to reach a final agreement to end the war.
Iran and the US are nearly halfway through the 60-day period in which they were supposed to negotiate such an agreement, which was also supposed to address Iran's disputed nuclear programme.
Additional reporting by 1News.
The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, Oil prices spike as a US blockade looms … Terrorism charges laid over a political killing and a burglar ruffles feathers in Auckland. (Source: 1News)
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