The United States military announced on Monday that it had finished its ninth straight night of strikes against Iran, hitting military command centres, air defence systems, coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, and missile and drone launch facilities across the country. US Central Command confirmed the operations on social media, stating they targeted strategic infrastructure in response to recent Iranian attacks that killed three American service members.
Two of those deaths occurred during an Iranian assault on a US base in Jordan; a third American soldier died in Iraq on Saturday during the controlled detonation of a downed Iranian drone. President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters after returning from the World Cup final, said the strikes were carried out “in honour” of the “three great patriots” and added: “We hit them very hard again tonight.”
Iranian Retaliation and Regional Fallout
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard responded on Monday with what state media described as a “surprise attack” on an enemy command centre in Syria. Meanwhile, Kuwait’s army reported that it was intercepting hostile attacks, with air defence systems engaging incoming threats. Bahrain also sounded missile alert sirens on Monday morning, warning of an approaching Iranian strike. A day earlier, Tehran claimed it had targeted two US bases in Kuwait.
The escalating conflict has severely disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global oil supplies. Traffic has largely stalled, driving the price of Brent crude above $90 a barrel on Monday. This comes despite an interim ceasefire that had briefly calmed tensions after Iran attacked vessels transiting the waterway.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Iran of using the strait as leverage. “It's clear that Iran, at least some people in Iran, want to control the straits and hold that as leverage against the world,” Rubio told reporters before travelling to the Philippines for an ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting. He urged other nations to share the burden of protecting global shipping, whether through hardware or financial contributions. “The United States will do and continue to do what it needs to, but other countries need to begin to step up,” he added.
Rubio also left the door open for diplomacy, insisting that any deal must be “real” and one Iran is “willing to live by”. He noted that Washington had tried multiple times to reach a diplomatic solution with Tehran. On Saturday, Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, warned of “unforgettable lessons” if the US continued its attacks. In a statement read on state television, Khamenei—who has not appeared in public since the war began—called Trump’s signature on the interim ceasefire deal “worthless and invalid”. His comments came hours after a negotiator said Tehran was suspending its commitments to the agreement.
In the past week, Trump threatened to target power stations and bridges to compel Iran to loosen its grip on the strait. Washington has also reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports to halt its crude oil shipments. US airstrikes on Saturday hit an electricity and desalination plant in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, according to Iranian state TV. The Bonji desalination plant was destroyed, cutting off water supplies to about 10,000 people, and a desalination facility on strategic Qeshm Island inside the strait was damaged.
The conflict has drawn in Gulf allies and raised concerns across Europe about energy security and regional stability. For European capitals, the disruption to oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz—a route that carries roughly a fifth of the world’s petroleum—poses immediate economic risks. The price surge to $90 a barrel will likely feed into inflation figures across the EU, the UK, and Switzerland, while governments in Berlin, Paris, and Rome watch for any spillover into the broader Middle East.
Read more: US Strikes Iranian Ports as Tehran Moves to Assert Control Over Strait of Hormuz and Iran Threatens Regional Infrastructure Destruction if US Strikes Its Sites.
