Interim summary
In case you’re just joining us, here’s a quick recap of the latest as the Middle East crisis escalates once again. It’s 9.30am in Tehran and 2am in Washington DC.
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The US carried out a third consecutive night of strikes against Iran on Monday and two tankers came under fire in the strait of Hormuz.
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Donald Trump said the US would reinstate its blockade of Iranian shipping in the Gulf. It would begin at 4pm ET on Tuesday, US Central Command said.
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Trump said the Hormuz strait would stay open “with or without Iran” but that the US would start charging fees on ships transiting through the waterway, in an apparent policy reversal. A 20% fee would be levied “for any and all costs necessary” to provide security and safety for vessels, the president said.
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Iran’s top joint military command said the US had no role in determining the strait’s future and would not be allowed to intervene. Foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran would “forever” be the guardian of the strait.
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Iranian media reported explosions in the port city of Bandar Abbas, Iran’s Kish and Qeshm islands and on Abu Musa Island in the Gulf shortly after the US military announced the renewed strikes on Iran.
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The United Arab Emirates said Iranian cruise missiles struck two Emirati oil tankers while transiting the southern lane of the vital energy transit route in Omani territorial waters, killing a crew member and injuring eight.
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Oil prices rose 2% to their highest in four weeks amid heightened uncertainty about energy flows through the strait of Hormuz. Brent crude futures climbed 2% to $84.98 a barrel by 0051 GMT on Tuesday, while US West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.1% to $79.79. Brent crude surged 9.6% in the previous session – its biggest daily gain since May 2020.
Key events
Middle Eastern mobile networks were repeatedly hit with cyber attacks to monitor the locations of US personnel and contractors during the US-Israel war on Iran, according to a report in the Financial Times.
These attempts came in the build up to the war being launched on 28 February and carried on into the early days of the conflict, according to the report, which cites telecoms data and people familiar with the matter.
One source told the FT that officials in the Gulf believes Tehran or its allies have taken advantage of roaming agreements with local phone providers to try to track US personnel.
Fifty-five Iranian fishermen have been freed from custody in the United Arab Emirates, Iran’s embassy there said on its Telegram channel on Tuesday.
The fishermen were detained by the UAE’s coast guard in recent months due to “special conditions” in the region, the embassy added, in a likely reference to the Iran war.
The process to send them home had started, the embassy said.
A Norwegian tanker was hit by an explosion caused by an unidentified device off the Omani coast early on Tuesday, a crisis response company said.
MTI Network said in a statement that shipping company Stolt Tankers reported that at approximately 00.40am local time “its tanker vessel Stolt Magnesium while on passage in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Oman suffered from an explosion of an unidentified external device”.
The explosion triggered a fire in the ship’s engine room, but an MTI Network spokesman added that the crew “fortunately are all safe and accounted for”.
Israel’s foreign minister said he expected ongoing talks in Rome with Lebanon to help implement an agreement on two “pilot zones” in southern Lebanon, referring to the withdrawal of Israeli troops from those areas.
“We are ready to move forward implementing these two pilot zones. I hope and tend to believe that this round of discussions in Rome will promote it,” Gideon Saar told journalists at a press conference in Jerusalem.
William Christou
The US launched strikes on Iran for a third day and Iran retaliated with strikes on US allies and tankers, hours after Donald Trump said the US would take control of the strait of Hormuz and charge a toll to ships for safe passage.
The US military said its five-hour operation early on Tuesday hit targets across Iran, including the port cities of Bushehr and Bandar Abbas. It shared videos of strikes that it said were meant to “degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping”.
More explosions were heard around noon on Tuesday west of Bandar Abbas, as well as in Bushehr and Choghadak, according to Iranian state TV, though no party had yet claimed responsibility.
Iran targeted Bahrain, which houses the US Navy’s fifth fleet; Jordan, which hosts US air force assets; and two tankers associated with the United Arab Emirates in the strait of Hormuz.
Bahrain said it had intercepted several of the attacks and accused Iran of targeting civilians, after explosions were heard in its capital, Manama. Jordan said it intercepted four missiles from Iran.
William Christou
Lebanese and Israeli delegations were due to meet in Rome on Tuesday to continue US-mediated negotiations. Lebanon is seeking an Israeli withdrawal from the more than 600 sq km of the country that it occupies, though hopes for a swift withdrawal were low.
Last month Lebanon and Israel announced they had reached a “framework agreement” under which Israeli troops would withdraw from “pilot areas” in south Lebanon.
The Lebanese army would then enter those areas, with the promise that they would prevent Hezbollah from returning and continue to dismantle the armed group’s infrastructure there.
The negotiations are between the Lebanese government and Israel. Hezbollah is not a party to the talks.
Hezbollah has repeatedly called on the government to stop the talks, framing the direct negotiations as a surrender. It is unclear how agreements from the talks would be implemented on the ground without Hezbollah’s cooperation.
Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has condemned the attacks carried out against Saudi Arabia yesterday, calling them “reprehensible actions” that violated the kingdom’s sovereignty and undermined regional stability.
“Pakistan reaffirms its unwavering support for the Kingdom’s security and stands in complete solidarity with the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at this critical time,” he wrote in a post on X.
“On its part, Pakistan will continue to support all sincere efforts aimed at promoting peace, stability, security, and mutual understanding across the region.”
Pakistan has been the key mediator between the US and Iran, hosting delegations and passing messages between the two sides in an effort to reduce tensions and help bring about a lasting peace deal.
Sharif’s comments come after after Yemeni government planes, supported by Saudi Arabia, bombed the Houthi-controlled Sana’a airport on Monday in protest at Iranian efforts to send a plane to the city containing a Houthi delegation returning from the funeral of the late Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei. You can read more about the attack here.
Crude oil prices hit highest levels in four weeks
Julia Kollewe
Crude oil prices have hit their highest levels in four weeks, as Washington and Tehran traded attacks and the US reimposed a naval blockade of Iran.
Brent crude has jumped $3.79 a barrel to $87.08 a barrel, a 4.55% increase, the highest since 12 June.
The US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding to end the conflict on 17 June and engaged in negotiations for a permanent peace deal.
Dutch shipping firm says tanker attacked off Oman in the Arabian Sea
Dutch shipping firm Stolt Tankers said this morning that one of its tankers came under attack off Oman in the Arabian Sea.
The shipping firm said Stolt Magnesium came under attack early this morning, around the time the UAE said two tankers were targeted by Iranian missiles while crossing the strait of Hormuz in Omani waters.
Stolt Tankers said in a statement that all the mariners aboard its vessel were safe and accounted for after the attack, which sparked a fire in the ship’s engine room.
The firm confirmed it was the same vessel referred to by the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) centre, which earlier said it received a report of a tanker being hit by “an unknown projectile” 40 nautical miles northeast of Qalhat, Oman, last night.
Reports of explosions heard in Iranian cities
Iran’s Fars news agency is reporting that several explosions have been heard in the Iranian cities of Bushehr and Jaghadak.
The report said the exact location of the explosions is unknown and did not note any casualties or infrastructural damage. Bushehr is home to Iran’s only operating civilian nuclear power plant.
“Four points in the city of Bushehr were hit by enemy projectiles at noon (0830 GMT),” deputy provincial governor Ehsan Jahanian was quoted by official news agency IRNA as saying. He blamed the attacks on the US.
India summons Iranian diplomat to protest after ships attacked in strait of Hormuz
The Indian foreign ministry said it summoned the deputy chief of mission of the Iranian embassy in New Delhi to register “a strong protest” against the attacks on two commercial vessels in the strait of Hormuz that were reported to have killed an Indian seafarer and injured several others.
The two vessels had a total of 46 crew members, including 30 Indians, one of whom has “tragically lost his life”, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
“India is deeply concerned by the attacks on two vessels, MT Al Bahiyah and MT Mombasa, during their transit through the strait of Hormuz today,” it said.
Indian sailors comprise a significant share of the global commercial shipping industry and have come under deadly fire during the conflict.
As we reported in an earlier post, the UAE’s defence ministry said overnight that two tankers – the Mombasa and Al Bahiyah – were targeted by Iranian cruise missiles while transiting the strait of Hormuz.
Three people killed in overnight US strikes on Iran – report
Three people were killed in US strikes on Iran’s Hormozgan province overnight, according to the Fars news agency, which is close to the Iranian security services.
We are also seeing breaking reports of several explosions being heard around the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas, which is home to an Iranian naval base. We will bring you more details on this as we get them.
