Air defense interceptors are visible in the skies over Doha, July 12, 2026. (Credit: AFP)
Iran said Sunday it was closing the Strait of Hormuz and launched missiles and drones at Gulf neighbors after the U.S. carried out a new round of strikes as the war escalated.
President Donald Trump said Sunday the United States hit Iran hard in response to its latest attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
"We hit them very hard last night," Trump told CNN by telephone in an interview centering mainly on the death of Senator Lindsey Graham.
Trump said the United States and Iran had been close to "a deal" on Saturday. "They were giving up everything, and then all of a sudden two hours after that they hit a ship with a drone. These people, there is something wrong with them," he said.
U.S. airstrikes carried out overnight Saturday to Sunday against Iran killed an Iranian serviceman, local media reported.
"Lieutenant Hamidreza Dehghani, of the Navy of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, was martyred in the criminal and terrorist attack perpetrated last night by the United States against the port of Jask," located in southern Iran on the Gulf, the Mehr and Tasnim news agencies reported, citing a local official.
The U.S. military insisted Sunday that ships are moving through the Strait of Hormuz despite Iran's claim to have closed it in the latest flare-up of the Mideast war.
"Iran does not control the strait. Traffic is flowing," CENTCOM, which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East, said on X.
In a later post, CENTCOM directly mentioned and challenged an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps statement that the vital conduit for global oil flow was closing.
But the U.S. military said the strait "remains an international waterway. U.S. forces are positioned and prepared to keep it that way."
As it announced the strait was closing, Iran also attacked U.S.-allied Gulf neighbors in response to the latest series of US strikes on Iran, further endangering a deal that was supposed to halt the war while negotiators seek a definitive agreement to end it.
The latest exchange of fire was triggered by another Iranian attack on a commercial ship in the strait, forcing its crew to abandon the vessel after it caught fire.
The escalation is the latest to undermine an interim agreement between Washington and Tehran aimed at ending their war, which broke out in late February with U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader.
Mediators have been trying to salvage a diplomatic solution after President Donald Trump this week declared the cease-fire over.
"Following this incident ... the Strait of Hormuz will be closed until further notice and until the end of American interventions in this region," Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Sunday, according to the state news agency IRNA.
Iran said it had targeted two ships in the Strait of Hormuz, claiming they had ignored instructions to use an approved transit corridor or were "violating regulations," IRNA reported.
The attacks prompted a barrage of U.S. strikes across Iran in response, with the American military saying it hit about 140 targets in its third round of attacks this week.
Iranian media reported explosions in Bandar Abbas, Sirik, Jask, Qeshm Island and Khuzestan province. One serviceman was reported killed in the southern port city of Jask.
"The United States is imposing a heavy cost by continuing to degrade Iran's ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the strait," the U.S. military said on X.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said: "Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay."
Hormuz flashpoint
Iran's response came quickly, with sirens and explosions reported in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, according to AFP journalists and local authorities.
Qatar said three people were injured in the Iranian attacks, while the UAE warned of incoming missiles before later saying none entered its territory.
Kuwait also said it was working to intercept an attack, while Jordan said three Iranian missiles landed inside the kingdom.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they also struck Oman, which has rarely been targeted.
They claimed to have destroyed "the logistical support centres for naval vessels and the refuelling facilities for U.S. aircraft carriers at the port of Duqm."
Muscat summoned the Iranian ambassador and handed him a formal protest — a rare move for the sultanate, which has sought to balance competing demands from Washington and Tehran.
The attack came just hours after Oman hosted Iran's foreign minister for talks on the Strait of Hormuz, a key sticking point in negotiations over a final agreement to end the war.
Iran closed the waterway to commercial shipping during the war, heavily disrupting the global economy because the strait is a key route for Gulf energy exports.
Tehran insists on controlling the passage of ships and plans to charge transit fees, a position Washington has rejected.
Control of the waterway has become a key source of leverage for Iran, with an adviser to the country's supreme leader saying Sunday it was more important than "dozens of atomic bombs."
'Blatant' attack
Sunday's attack on a Cyprus-flagged container ship in the waterway left one Indian sailor missing, New Delhi said.
Oman said it rescued 23 crew members from a commercial vessel.
Iran said it had fired "warning shots," but the U.S. military accused Tehran of "blatantly" attacking the ship.
The crew abandoned the vessel and took to a lifeboat about 17 kilometers east of Oman, according to the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations agency.
Earlier Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz had already triggered fighting this week, along with increasingly heated rhetoric.
Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has vowed revenge for the killing of his father and predecessor on the first day of the war, Feb. 28.
He said Iran had compiled a list of individuals to be targeted.
A conservative Iranian newspaper known for its provocative tone later published a list including the leaders of the United States, Israel and several European countries, although there was no indication it had official endorsement.
Trump said Saturday that any attempt to assassinate him would lead the United States to "completely decimate" Iran.
He has declared the cease-fire over while leaving the door open for talks, and mediators have continued efforts to salvage a diplomatic solution.
Pakistan, which has been mediating, called for "de-escalation" Sunday during a phone call between Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and his Iranian counterpart, Islamabad said.
"Dialogue and diplomacy remain the only viable path to resolving disputes and achieving lasting peace," Dar said.
