US launches more airstrikes on Iran after attacks on tankers + military bases

The regional war is once again coming to a head, with the US launching a barrage of airstrikes on Iran yesterday, attacking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets. The strikes — which focused on air defense and radar systems alongside minelaying and communications capabilities — were in retaliation for Tehran’s attempt to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz, US President Donald Trump said.

This comes after two tankers carrying Saudi oil were struck within minutes of each other on Monday in Hormuz, Reuters reports, citing Kpler and Marisks. The tankers — one of which was Saudi-flagged, the other Liberian-flagged — were each carrying 2 mn bbl of Saudi crude, which they loaded at Juaymah last week.

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that US attacks could lead to a blockade on all oil exports through the critical waterway. Meanwhile, Iran’s military threatened to inflict high costs on US forces in the region.

The UAE Defense Ministry also intercepted a drone over Emirati waters on Monday, with authorities saying the UAV had come from Iran, after the US and Iran traded strikes for the first time in weeks. Iran’s armed forces said it had targeted US military bases in Jordan, as well as the Al Menhad airbase in the UAE, in retaliation for US strikes on Lark Island.

UAE authorities, however, have said Al Menhad wasn’t targeted and urged people to use only official sources of information to avoid the spread of rumors. In an X post, Anwar Gargash, the diplomatic advisor to the UAE president, said, “the policy of targeting Arab Gulf states and Jordan has proved to be a failure,” and called for “realistic and sustainable political solutions” to the conflict.

Signs of severed trade ties with Iran are also evident, as traffic along the once-busy shipping route from Dubai Creek to Iran has largely dried up, the Financial Times reports. Coupled with increased US economic sanctions, the Emirates’ shunning of trade relations with Iran has cut off access to what was once a vital offshore hub for Iranian commercial activity.