Another tanker attacked in Strait of Hormuz as US attacks Iran for 10th consecutive night
The UK Merchant Marine Operations center said the ship reported on the radio that it had been hit by an unknown shell.
Two more ships were attacked in the Bosphorus the other day, and Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards claimed responsibility for these attacks.
One-fifth of oil and natural gas traded in peacetime passed through the Strait of Hormuz, but Iran has maintained control over the waterway since war began on February 28.
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The latest attacks between Iran and the United States come as the two countries compete for control of the strait.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Below is AP’s earlier story.The US military said late Monday it had carried out its 10th consecutive nighttime strike against Iran in an attempt to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The renewed bombings followed the death of another American soldier and came after Iran launched an attack on American allies Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain, home of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.
U.S. Central Command said on social media that the latest attacks were “designed to further weaken Iran’s military capabilities used to attack commercial shipping” in the strait.
As the United States and Iran approach all-out war again, glimmers of hope have emerged on the diplomatic front, with Iran’s interior minister traveling to Pakistan, a key mediator in the conflict, for talks.
An interim agreement signed last month aimed at ending the conflict has collapsed. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital supply route for world energy supplies, has largely stopped. As the fighting intensified, both sides targeted civilian infrastructure that millions of people rely on.
This increase has caused oil prices to rise in recent weeks. Benchmark Brent crude traded above $88 a barrel on Monday, and regular gasoline prices in the U.S. have risen to an average of $4 a gallon, keeping the pressure on Americans’ wallets ahead of this fall’s midterm elections.
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A new potential threat to energy markets emerged on Monday after Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen said they planned to block Saudi Arabia from shipping across the Red Sea, an alternative route for oil exports during the war.
The US military has identified two soldiers killed in attacks in Jordan that left a third person missing. Separately, the military confirmed that another person was killed during the “controlled detonation” of an Iranian drone shot down in Iraq on Saturday. President Donald Trump posted on social media Monday: “Every time Iran kills an American soldier, they will pay for that murder, over and over again!” he warned.
Trump was planning to attend a ceremony at Dover Air Force Base on Tuesday evening where the funeral of at least one soldier would come.
US targets strategic areas in Iran
U.S. Central Command said Sunday’s airstrikes targeted “Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and communications networks.” Last week, the US hit bridges and a tower in an Iranian port.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said the American strikes killed at least one person around Tabriz, a northwestern city about 520 kilometers (325 miles) from the capital Tehran. Tabriz is believed to host underground missile bases run by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
According to IRNA, US attacks will probably also hit Bandar Imam Khomeini in Khuzestan province, Sirik and Jask in Hormozgan province, Konarak and Chahbahar in Sistan and Baluchistan province.
A second ship was attacked in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of the United Arab Emirates a day earlier, the British military’s UK Merchant Marine Operations center said in a statement on Monday evening.
The other ship, which was hit by a bullet near the Oman coastline, caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz. UKMTO said the crew abandoned the ship, which was adrift and still in flames hours later.
The route around Oman was the route the US military encouraged ships to travel to avoid Iranian control. The guard later claimed that he was targeting tankers in the strait.
Tehran also attacked US-allied countries in the Middle East.
Kuwait said its air defenses opened fire on the incoming barrages, while Jordanian armed forces announced that they shot down three Iranian missiles on Monday evening, adding that there was no material damage or loss of life. Bahrain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned Iran’s drone attacks targeting the country’s air traffic systems, saying they endangered the travel of civilians.
Nearly 100 Americans have been injured since early July
The Pentagon’s chief spokesman said nearly 100 US soldiers have been injured since the US resumed attacks on July 7, and 96 percent of them have returned to duty.
“The vast majority of injuries sustained were minor concussions,” Sean Parnell said on X on Monday in response to a New York Times report that the Pentagon was withholding information about troop injuries from Iran’s strikes. He denied that the Pentagon was withholding data on injuries.
But the Defense Casualty Analysis System, the military’s center for reporting deaths and injuries in combat, had not been updated with the latest attacks, which killed three U.S. soldiers and injured others as of Monday evening.
Strait of Hormuz remains key to conflict
Yemen’s Houthi rebels announced Monday they would impose a naval embargo on Saudi Arabia. Houthis, backed by Iran, said they would block shipping between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in response to last week’s attack on Sanaa International Airport, which they blamed on Saudi Arabia.
With the Strait of Hormuz closed, Saudi Arabia is relying on a pipeline to the Red Sea to deliver millions of barrels of oil to the market. The Houthis have previously demonstrated their ability to disrupt shipping there by targeting ships for months during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, attacking more than 100 ships.
There was no immediate response from Saudi Arabia.
Trump has threatened to target Iran’s power plants and bridges to force Tehran to loosen its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, and the latest attacks suggest the US military is implementing that plan.
Last week, the United States reimposed a naval blockade of Iranian ports to stop crude oil shipments. The army said it has since diverted seven ships and disabled one.
A ray of hope for diplomacy
Pakistan has intensified its diplomatic efforts in recent days to revive a temporary ceasefire reached last month that called for any remaining war-related issues to be resolved within 60 days. The ceasefire broke down as both sides resumed attacks on each other’s military installations and other infrastructure.
Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni arrived in Islamabad on Monday for two-day talks with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and others. Momeni’s counterpart, Pakistani Interior Minister Muhsin Naqvi, expressed optimism.
“Hopefully, we will give good news,” Naqvi said.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Sunday that the United States was still open to negotiating with Iran but “it has to be real.”
“If the door is opened to diplomacy, if those who want to do something productive for Iran win and take control of the system or take control of the negotiations, that would be a very positive development,” Rubio said. “Unfortunately we’re not here tonight.”
At least 50 people were killed and 517 injured in the latest US strikes, Iranian officials said on Sunday. 17 US soldiers have been killed since the war began on February 28.
