The United States attacked Iran early Sunday morning over an Iranian attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran apparently responded with strikes targeting Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
The new crossfire in the Persian Gulf comes after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested an interim deal and ceasefire in the Iran war was “over.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote online: “Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay.”
The United Arab Emirates warned the public Sunday of an incoming missile and drone attack as explosions could be heard in nearby Qatar. A missile alert sounded in Qatar shortly after the blasts.
Meanwhile, missile alerts sounded in Bahrain, an island kingdom in the Persian Gulf home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.
It wasn’t immediately clear what locations were under attack in the UAE, which so far hadn’t been targeted in the latest round of attacks by Iran.
In the Strait of Hormuz attack, a Cyprus-flagged container ship was hit by Iran and suffered “significant engineroom damage” and a civilian crew member is missing, U.S. Central Command said.
Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said multiple vessels “disregarded our warnings and instructions to correct their course and proceed along the approved route.” One of them “was struck by a warning shot and brought to a stop.”
Iran said that the strait would remain closed “until further notice” and said it would consider targeting “additional enemy bases in the region” if it faced more attacks.
The number of vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz fell to multi-week lows on Sunday, shipping data showed, as renewed strikes between the U.S. and Iran and attacks on ships in the Middle East heightened safety concerns.
Six vessels transited the strait on Sunday, ship-tracking data from Kpler showed, the lowest number in five weeks.
Tankers that exited the strait included the Very Large Crude Carrier Humanity, laden with 2 million barrels of Iranian oil and another tanker, Capetan Andreas, carrying about 500,000 barrels of Kuwaiti oil products, the data showed, while three empty tankers entered the Gulf to load oil. Most of the tankers switched off their transponders when crossing the strait.
There were no liquefied natural gas tankers that entered the strait over the weekend that were visible on ship-tracking data.
One tanker controlled by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co exited the strait between July 10 and July 12, Kpler data showed. The vessel is heading for Dahej port in India.
