U.S. forces struck Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets across southern Iran on Tuesday after attempted attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, pushing Brent crude futures up nearly 4 percent as Tehran threatened to close the Gulf to all oil exports.
U.S. Central Command said strikes beginning at noon ET hit air defense sites, radar systems, maritime assets, mine-laying capabilities, and communications sites on Qeshm Island, in Bandar Abbas, Chabahar, Jask, and Sirik. Iran's state media reported explosions and said Tehran responded with strikes of its own. Two tankers were hit on Monday leaving the strait.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent vowed new sanctions this week and said Iran's leverage over the strait would be short-lived, calling it a worthless piece of water in two years. President Trump warned Iran would be hit again at a much harder and higher level if it retaliates. The U.S. Embassy in Qatar urged heightened vigilance for Americans in the region.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told a summit in Kyrgyzstan that Tehran would immediately reciprocate if Washington returned to June's memorandum of understanding, which ended fighting that killed thousands since February 28. But the 60-day negotiation period that followed passed without further agreement, and Iranian officials have shown no public sign of bowing to pressure.