US strikes Iran, Tehran hits Gulf states, says Strait of Hormuz closed

U.S. and Iranian forces exchanged heavy missile and drone strikes on Sunday after Tehran said it had again closed the vital Strait of Hormuz.

After a series of two-way attacks over the past several days, U.S. President Donald Trump declared the end of a cease-fire meant to halt the war that the U.S. and Israel launched on Feb. 28 while leaving the door open to continued negotiations.

The escalation followed several attacks on commercial ships in the area. Iran said it had closed the strait after firing a warning shot that struck a vessel traveling on an unapproved route, and said on Sunday it had disabled a second vessel.

The strait will remain closed until "the end of U.S. interference in this region," Iran's Revolutionary Guards said. U.S. Central Command, however, said commercial vessels continue to transit through the waterway that carried one-fifth of the world's oil and LNG shipments before the war.

Iran attacks hit Gulf

Central Command claimed U.S. forces hit 140 Iranian military targets on Saturday, out of more than 300 during three nights of strikes "to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial vessels freely transiting the strait."

Iranian state media reported explosions in several port cities.

In response, the Guards said they had destroyed a command and control center and drone hangars at U.S. ally Jordan, targeted a U.S. radar site in Kuwait, attacked U.S. aircraft carrier support and refueling platforms in Oman and destroyed a jet maintenance center and command facility in Qatar.

Qatar's government said three people, including a child, had been injured by falling shrapnel from the attack.

The United Arab Emirates said its defense systems engaged missiles and drones from Iran, while warning sirens sounded in Bahrain and explosions were heard in Doha.

Tehran's strikes marked a sharp escalation in pace and targets, after it had warned that any retaliation over the container ship incident would be met with a "severe response."

In recent weeks, Iran had hit Kuwait and Bahrain while avoiding Qatar since early April and the UAE since early May.

Qatar previously said it would not act as a mediator so long as it was under attack.

The war has destabilized the Gulf, while Iran's effective blockade of the strait has caused energy prices to surge, fueling global inflation.

Higher prices, especially for gasoline, are politically sensitive for Trump ahead of November congressional elections.

Cease-fire contingent on mutual compliance, Iran says

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has accused the United States of violating the cease-fire agreement. "There can only be mutual compliance," he wrote on X on Friday.

On Sunday, Iran's top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf posted on X: "The era of one-sided deals is OVER. We told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking."

The U.S. revoked the license authorizing the sale of Iranian crude on Tuesday after Qatari and Saudi commercial tankers came under fire earlier in the week, prompting a series of tit-for-tat U.S and Iranian strikes.

Araqchi and Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi met in Oman to exchange "views on appropriate mechanisms for the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz," according to a statement from Iran. Oman's state news agency said negotiators would continue talks "at the technical and political levels."

A written statement from Iran's new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, on Saturday threatened vengeance for the death of his predecessor and father, who was killed by the war's initial attacks.

"We pledge to avenge the blood of the martyred leader and all the martyrs," the message said.

Iran's new leader has not been seen in public since the war began.