US, Iran exchange strikes again as Hormuz traffic nosedives

The US and Iran continued to exchange strikes overnight and this morning, after a weekend of renewed tension as Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz after firing a warning shot yesterday at a Cyprus-flagged container ship it said took an “unapproved route.”

The US military launched strikes on Iran to “continue degrading their ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” US Central Command said, rejecting Tehran’s claims that it has closed the waterway. That was after the US launched attacks on Sunday targeting Iranian air and surface-surveillance radars, missile and drone storage facilities. Meanwhile, Iranian state media reported explosions in cities along the strait.

Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the UAE have all been targeted by Iranian strikes over the past 24 hours, with each country reporting varying degrees of damage from the attacks. In Kuwait, Iran attacked two military bases that are Kuwaiti but host US military. Iran also hit similar targets in Bahrain.

Is Hormuz open? That depends on who you ask. Iran issued a statement declaring the strait closed to traffic, prompting Centcom to say the waterway is “open to all vessels seeking to lawfully transit the international waterway” and that “Iran does not control the strait.” The back-and-forth comes as just six vessels — the lowest figure in five weeks — transited Hormuz yesterday. The vessels include a VLCC carrying Iranian oil, as well as another tanker carrying Kuwaiti oil products and three empty vessels that were en route to load oil in the Gulf.