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U.S. and Iran escalate strikes across Mideast
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World U.S. strikes bridges in Iran; Tehran targets U.S.
Map showing multiple possible shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.S.
A woman flashes a victory sign while walking at Tehran's traditional main bazaar, Iran, Thursday, July 16, 2026.
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− and Iran escalate strikes across Mideast The United States and Iran exchanged strikes aimed at infrastructure and military targets on Saturday as their battle over the Strait of Hormuz intensified.
+ and Iran lurch back toward all-out war The United States and Iran exchanged strikes aimed at infrastructure and military targets on Saturday as their battle over the Strait of Hormuz intensified.
− Middle East U.S.
+ Middle East The U.S.
− and Iran escalate strikes across Mideast July 18, 20262:01 AM ET By
The Associated Press
Two men wade in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz with vessels anchored in the background, off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Sunday, July 12, 2026.
+ and Iran blow past red lines as they lurch back toward all-out war Updated July 18, 20266:57 AM ET Originally published July 18, 20262:01 AM ET By
The Associated Press
Two men wade in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz with vessels anchored in the background, off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Sunday, July 12, 2026.
− Razieh Poudat/AP Photo/ISNA hide caption
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United States and Iran exchanged strikes aimed at infrastructure and military targets on Saturday as their battle over the Strait of Hormuz intensified.
+ Razieh Poudat/AP Photo/ISNA hide caption
A week after the United States and Iran signed a preliminary deal aimed at ending the war, an Iranian drone slammed into a cargo ship sailing through the Strait of Hormuz.
− bases in the Gulf The region has endured days of back-and-forth attacks in a conflict increasingly focused on control of the strait. The collapse of an interim ceasefire leaves no clear end in sight for the war that the U.S. and Israel began more than four months ago.
+ bases in the Gulf There were no casualties or major damage, but the June 25 attack set off a chain of hostilities that would put the two countries on a path back toward all-out war less than a month after they agreed to stop fighting.
− The U.S.
+ Each strike and counterstrike chipped away at the pillars of the agreement, which has now collapsed, though there are still efforts to salvage it.
− Central Command said early Saturday that its seventh straight night of strikes had hit "surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities."
Kuwait said Saturday it was intercepting Iranian missiles and drones, while Iraq said it had shot down attack drones over the city of Irbil.
+ Red lines set by both sides have been crossed.
− Jordan's state-run Petra news agency said that the kingdom's air defense systems had downed Iranian missiles, while air sirens sounded in Bahrain according to the government there.
+ A return to full-scale war that would further destabilize the Middle East and disrupt the world economy appears increasingly likely.
− Iranian officials say recent U.S.
+ Here's a look at how we got here.
The attack on the cargo ship came after Iran had warned vessels not to use an alternative route through the Strait of Hormuz that is overseen by the U.S.
− strikes have killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds, with new casualties reported Friday, when the U.S. military also acknowledged more injured service members.
+ military and intended to be outside Tehran's control.
− Iran effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic after the war started Feb.
+ Iran had largely shut down the waterway — which carried a fifth of the world's traded oil and gas in peacetime — after the surprise U.S.-Israeli attack on Feb.
− 28.
+ 28 that started the war.
− That sent the price of oil soaring and gave Iran significant leverage in negotiations. The price of oil rose Friday above $86 a barrel, close to its highest level in a month, as crossings through the strait fell to a three-week low, according to an international shipping tracker.
+ Tehran has come to see control over the strait, and its far-reaching economic impact, as a key pressure point in its confrontation with the U.S.
− Will Jarrett/AP Photo hide caption
In an address to the American public on Thursday evening, Trump insisted the war was going well.
+ Will Jarrett/AP Photo hide caption
The preliminary agreement called for the strait to be fully reopened, but it also contained language suggesting Iran would manage traffic and potentially charge fees in the future.
− "We are likewise winning big in Iran, and you will see the fruits of that labor very, very shortly," he said.
+ Iran has seized on that, saying it has the right to control the strait and that the alternative route is a violation of the deal.
− Before the war began, the U.S.
+ The U.S.
− had been in talks with Iran over its nuclear program. Trump now faces political pressure to bring the war to a close and avoid the kind of prolonged Middle East conflict he had campaigned against.
+ and others dispute that, saying the strait should be open to all and toll-free, as it was before the war.
− airstrikes had hit bridges in Iran's southern Hormozgan province, Iranian state television reported.
+ launched strikes on Iran a day after the June 25 attack, hitting what the U.S.
− The attacks hit Bandar Khamir, a city on Iran's coast on the Strait of Hormuz.
+ military said were missile and drone locations and coastal radar sites.
− The highway and railway bridge strikes appeared aimed at cutting off Bandar Abbas, Iran's main port, from roads leading into the Islamic Republic's central region onward to Tehran, the capital.
Iran acknowledged "attacks on power infrastructure" during the U.S.
+ The following day, Iran attacked a tanker using the alternative route through the strait, and the U.S.
− airstrike campaign for the first time Friday when its Energy Ministry issued a call for people to use less power in southern provinces "experiencing extreme heat." The ministry did not specify what was hit.
Iranian authorities said at least 46 people have been killed and more than 400 wounded in recent U.S.
+ responded with more strikes.
− strikes, including eight killed in a strike on a bridge Friday.
+ This time, Iran lashed out at nearby Gulf states, attacking Kuwait and Bahrain, both of which host American troops.
− U.S.
+ The two sides pulled back the following week, each sending delegations to Qatar, which had played a key role in mediating the agreement.
− officials acknowledged 13 additional U.S. service members — 10 Army soldiers and three Navy sailors — had been injured since Monday, but offered no further details. Since the war began, 14 U.S. service members have been killed and 427 wounded.
+ But they did not meet directly.
− U.S.
+ Iran reiterated its warning against using the alternative route as it prepared for the dayslong funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening U.S.-Israeli strikes.
− strikes conducted overnight into Friday collapsed a tower at Iran's Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman, a key trade route for landlocked, neighboring Afghanistan, the state-run IRNA news agency reported and the U.S.
+ The funeral began on July 4, with crowds calling for revenge against U.S.
− military later confirmed.
+ President Donald Trump.
− Middle East conflict The U.S.-Iran battle over the Strait of Hormuz raises risks for global waterways Chabahar port, which Iran had been running with support from India, has been a repeated target of American airstrikes.
+ Days later, Iran attacked three ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
− Iran said the tower oversees commercial traffic into the port.
+ Middle East conflict The U.S.-Iran battle over the Strait of Hormuz raises risks for global waterways The U.S.
− But Central Command said it was part of a maritime surveillance network used by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard to "track and target" commercial vessels in the strait.
+ responded with a wave of strikes that it said targeted air defense systems, radars and over 60 small boats used by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. Such boats have been used to harass ships in the strait.
− On Friday evening Iranian state media reported explosions around Iran, including in the central and south of the country.
+ The U.S.
− Local authorities said the U.S attacked around Ahvaz city without elaborating.
+ also revoked a waiver that had allowed Iran for the first time in years to sell its oil on the international market for U.S.
− IRNA also reported the sound of explosions in Lar, Yazd and Sirik.
+ dollars. The waiver was part of the interim deal.
− On Friday, Qatar warned the public to take shelter as a barrage of Iranian missiles targeted the nation.
+ Iran condemned the U.S.
− People heard explosions overhead as air defenses fired to intercept the missiles. Qatar's Interior Ministry said falling debris wounded a child.
+ strikes and the restoration of oil sanctions as violations of the agreement while insisting it had the right to control the strait, which the military command says is an "unbreakable red line." Iran also broadened its retaliatory strikes, hitting Bahrain, Kuwait and mediator Qatar.
− Iran also targeted Bahrain and Kuwait early Friday.
+ Trump, after departing from a NATO summit, offered mixed messages.
− In Kuwait, authorities said Iran attacked a power and water desalination plant, causing widespread damage to the station.
+ He said the U.S.
− Kuwait said it extinguished the blaze and was working to assess the damage and get the station working again.
+ strikes were in response to the attacks on shipping, warning that "if it happens again, it will get much worse!" But he also appeared to rule out long-term military action, saying "anything that happens is going to happen very fast." He also suggested the U.S.
− About 90% of the country's drinking water comes from desalination.
A spokesman for Kuwait's defense ministry said Iranian drone attacks on its army's "facilities and camps" injured an unspecified number of personnel.
Jordan's military said it intercepted three incoming missiles Friday morning launched by Iran.
Explosions also could be heard Friday morning in Irbil and Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish region as air defenses targeted incoming fire.
+ military might "just finish the job."
The fighting has steadily escalated since then.
− The attack apparently targeted the Iranian Kurdish dissident group Komala, killing at least nine people and wounding others, said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
Iran did not immediately claim the attack but has targeted Komala in the past.
Also on Friday, a tanker came under attack traveling through the Strait of Hormuz taking the route closest to Oman, the British military said.
+ On Wednesday, the U.S.
− The report from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said the ship sustained minor damage without any of its crew being injured.
+ restored its blockade on Iran's ports, which had been lifted as part of the interim agreement.
− Iran did not immediately acknowledge any attack.
+ In recent days, the U.S.
− In recent days, it has openly targeted ships using the route, which is overseen by the U.S.
+ has expanded its strikes to northern Iran, hitting targets far from the strait.
− military and intended to be outside of Tehran's control.
+ On Friday, it struck bridges and power stations in the south, collapsing a tower that it said was used by the Revolutionary Guard for maritime surveillance at one of Iran's main ports.
+ Iran said Friday that U.S. strikes have killed at least 46 people and wounded more than 400 since hostilities resumed.
− Vahid Salemi/AP hide caption
Iran has said the strait must be under its sole control and that vessels should pay fees to Tehran — even though the world for decades has considered it an international waterway.
+ Vahid Salemi/AP hide caption
Trump has repeatedly threatened to target civilian infrastructure in Iran, at one point earlier in the war vowing to annihilate Iran's "whole civilization." Until now, he has repeatedly backed off from such threats, citing diplomatic progress.
− Trump has returned in recent days to his threats to target Iranian power stations and bridges to try to compel Iran to loosen its hold on the strait, through which about a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded once passed in peacetime.
+ But Iran's leaders may already believe that yet another line has been crossed.
− The U.S.
+ On Friday and again Saturday, Iran attacked a water desalination plant in extremely arid Kuwait.
Trump has also mused about taking control of the strait by force, possibly by seizing one or more strategic islands held by Iran.
− also reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports to halt its shipments of crude oil.
+ That would likely require a far larger naval presence and potentially tens of thousands of ground troops.
− Crossings through the strait fell to a three-week low of just eight vessels on Thursday, according to MarineTraffic.com.
A growing amount of the region's energy is being shipped through pipelines, but not nearly enough to offset the decline in shipping through the strait.