Military tensions between the United States and Iran intensified in the Gulf region after both sides exchanged attacks, deepening the confrontation over the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz. Iranian authorities said an American strike on an agricultural water pumping station in Mahshahr killed one person and injured four others, while Tehran declared that the latest military action had “rendered futile” diplomatic efforts pursued over recent months.
Washington said the renewed strikes followed an alleged attack by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on another commercial vessel attempting to transit the narrow entrance to the Persian Gulf. The waterway, through which roughly one-fifth of global oil and natural gas shipments once passed, remains central to Tehran's bargaining power under the agreement between the two countries. The US and Iran have continued to issue conflicting accounts regarding the status of commercial navigation through the strait.
The latest escalation comes after Iranian strikes on US military installations across the region over the weekend, attacks that Tehran acknowledged, further worsening the collapse in diplomatic relations between the two governments.
On Sunday, the US military expanded its operations against Iran. US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that it had struck “dozens of targets at multiple locations with precision munitions to degrade Iran's ability to continue attacking international shipping flowing through the Strait of Hormuz."
According to CENTCOM, the objectives included “Iranian military air defence systems, coastal radar sites, missile and drone capabilities, and small boats”.
The command also stated that it deployed “US fighter aircraft, naval vessels, one-way attack aerial drones, and one-way attack sea drones for the first time”.
Earlier, the US military said it had struck around 140 targets, representing a substantially larger wave of attacks than the two previous rounds carried out during the past week.
“We bombed the hell out of them last night,” President Donald Trump told NBC's “Meet the Press.”
Iran retaliated by launching attacks against American military bases in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and Oman, whose territorial waters with Iran form part of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's IRNA news agency reported that drone operations against US positions were ongoing, while Tehran claimed it had destroyed an American drone fleet in Bahrain.
The IRGC said in a statement that its aerospace forces targeted helicopter maintenance facilities, a hangar containing a P-8 aircraft, and a US military drone command-and-control center. Iranian media further reported that Tehran launched "destructive drone" attacks against US forces in Kuwait, targeting defense and missile systems, bunkers and support shelters. Earlier, the IRGC had claimed responsibility for attacks on Kuwait's Ali Salem and Ahmad Al-Jaber bases.
Iran's Foreign Ministry said the latest US military action had “rendered futile all efforts of the past few months to reduce tension and establish peace in the West Asian region."
“The US regime has also caused the return of insecurity in the Strait of Hormuz and disruption of international commercial shipping by openly interfering in the process of Iran implementing the necessary arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz," it added.
Separately, Al Jazeera reported that one person was killed and four others were wounded after a projectile struck an agricultural water pumping station in the Mahshahr area of Iran's Khuzestan province. Valiollah Hayati, the deputy governor for security and law enforcement, said the strike occurred in the early hours of the day and identified the person killed as a security guard at the facility.
US attacks also struck locations across Iran's Khuzestan, Hormozgan and Sistan-Baluchestan provinces. In Hormozgan province, explosions were reported in at least four locations—Jask, Sirik, Qeshm Island and Bandar Abbas—which are home to radar installations and military facilities.
In Khuzestan province, explosions were reported in Omidiyeh, Mahshar, Behbahan, Dezful and areas surrounding Ahvaz. Air attacks were also reported near Chabahar in Sistan-Baluchestan province and in Markazi province outside the city of Khondab, where the country's heavy water facilities are located.
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