U.S. attacks Iran over ship being hit in Hormuz; Tehran lashes out again at Gulf Arab states
The U.S. attacked Iran early Sunday (July 12, 2026) morning over an Iranian strike on a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz that set the
The U.S. attacked Iran early Sunday (July 12, 2026) morning over an Iranian strike on a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz that set the container ship ablaze and forced its crew to abandon it. Iran responded with attacks targeting several countries in the Gulf, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman. West Asia LIVE The outburst of fighting raised new questions about efforts to reach a permanent end to a war that began on Feb 28. The strait, a key transit route for oil and natural gas, has become the key sticking point in negotiations, and repeated fighting over the past week has left negotiations in danger of collapse. The U.S. military's Central Command said it hit some 140 targets in Sunday's (July 12, 2026) strikes, far more than in the two previous rounds of attacks, and went after missile and drone launch sites, ammunition dumps, communication equipment and other sites. It said the attacks would weaken Iran's ability to threaten civilian shipping. “Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay,” U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote online. The U.S. has launched three rounds of airstrikes targeting Iran in the last week over Iranian attacks on ships heading through the strait using a route seeking to avoid the Islamic Republic's territorial waters. Iran retaliated by attacking nations in the region hosting U.S. military forces, while insisting it alone must control the strait and potentially charge vessels for travelling through it. “The era of one-sided deals is OVER,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran's parliament and a main negotiator, wrote Sunday (July 12, 2026).
“We told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking.” About a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed through the strait before the war began. Iran's grip on it during the war led to a global energy crisis, though oil prices have sharply dropped since wartime highs of $120 a barrel. Missile alerts sounded across several Gulf Arab nations early Sunday (July 12, 2026) morning. Qatar's military said it intercepted incoming Iranian fire, with explosions heard in the neighbouring United Arab Emirates. Three people, including a child, were wounded as a result of falling shrapnel from the interception of Iranian attacks, Qatar's Interior Ministry said, giving no further details on their conditions. Meanwhile, missile alerts sounded for the third time on Sunday (July 12, 2026) in Bahrain, an island kingdom in the Persian Gulf home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. Kuwait's military also said it was intercepting incoming fire. The Omani state news agency said drones struck sites in northeastern Oman, in the area that sits on the Strait of Hormuz. Iran had previously claimed attacks on Oman. The attack came after the two countries held talks on Saturday (July 11, 2026). Sirens also sounded in the United Arab Emirates, but the government said missiles did not cross into UAE borders. The UAE so far hasn't been targeted in the most recent round of Iranian attacks. The last attack on the Emirates, home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, came in May when a drone sparked a fire on the edge of the country's sole nuclear power plant.
The BriefWire