U.S. and Iran exchange fresh strikes as war escalates in Gulf
Fresh U.S. strikes hit Greater Tunb Island as Iran answered with attacks on U.S. sites in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, pushing Gulf energy fears higher.
The United States launched fresh strikes against Iranian targets around 6 a.m. ET on Wednesday, hitting coastal defense systems and cruise-missile storage and launch sites on Greater Tunb Island. The attack lasted about 90 minutes and came hours after Iran targeted American military sites in the region, pushing the conflict into a fifth straight day of direct exchanges.
U.S. Central Command said the latest wave was aimed at weakening Iran’s ability to strike commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait of Hormuz carried about a fifth of global oil and gas shipments before the war. The renewed bombardment followed the U.S. reimposition this week of a naval blockade on Iranian ports after an interim ceasefire collapsed and nuclear talks stalled. The blockade had first been imposed in April and lifted last month.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it struck U.S. military targets in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan. The Jordanian military said late Wednesday that its air defenses intercepted three Iranian ballistic missiles that entered Jordanian airspace. Drone and missile alerts spread across Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.
The United States accused Iran of attacking seven commercial ships in the last week, with nearly a dozen crew members killed, missing or injured. Iranian officials said U.S. strikes killed at least seven troops in an army barracks attack and wounded more than 300 people across the country.
Prices rose about 1% on Wednesday as traders priced in the risk that fighting could spread further along the Strait of Hormuz.
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