Fighting between the United States and Iran entered its ninth consecutive day on Monday, with Tehran claiming that two oil tankers exploded and were left stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, further raising fears over the safety of one of the world’s busiest energy shipping routes.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it launched ballistic missile strikes targeting U.S. military positions, including Aqaba Airport in Jordan, Al-Adiri Camp and Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, as well as American military assets in Syria.
Air raid sirens sounded across Bahrain on Monday morning, according to the country’s Interior Ministry, while Kuwait’s military said it intercepted hostile drones during what it described as an Iranian attack.
The latest exchange marks another escalation after a month-old interim ceasefire collapsed, reigniting a confrontation centred on the Strait of Hormuz a critical corridor for global oil exports.
The renewed fighting has disrupted shipping, rattled energy markets and heightened concerns over inflation worldwide.
The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed it had launched another wave of strikes, saying the operation was intended to further weaken Iran’s ability to threaten commercial vessels navigating the strategic waterway. It did not disclose the specific targets.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that U.S. missile strikes hit several cities early Monday, including Tabriz, Chabahar, Konarak, Bandar Mahshahr and Bandar Imam Khomeini.
Speaking on the latest developments, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington would continue military operations as long as Iran threatened international shipping.
“The Strait of Hormuz is an international waterway, and Iran continues to attack ships passing through it,” Rubio said.
“As long as Iran insists on trying to control an international waterway, the United States will respond. We remain open to a diplomatic solution.”
Kuwait also reported that one of its desalination plants came under attack for the second straight day, sparking a fire in what authorities described as a direct strike on critical civilian infrastructure.
The U.S. military had earlier announced it completed an eighth consecutive night of strikes on Iran on Sunday.
Tensions over maritime security have remained high since Washington and Tehran resumed direct hostilities after accusing each other of violating the ceasefire agreement.
Late Sunday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it received a report of a vessel on fire near the Omani coast, although it could not immediately determine the cause.
The IRGC later claimed that two oil tankers exploded and became immobilised while attempting to use what it described as an unsafe southern shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz.
It alleged the vessels had been encouraged by the U.S. military to sail through that passage.
Reuters could not independently verify the claim.
Iranian authorities did not identify the vessels, disclose their nationalities or report whether there were casualties.
The Guards warned that the Strait of Hormuz would remain unsafe as long as what they described as continued U.S. “aggression” persisted in the region.
“This passage will not be safe for the transit of petrochemical products, nor even a single drop of oil and gas,” the statement said.
Shipping data from LSEG showed that only four vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, down from eight the previous day.
Since Friday, at least three product tankers and one Very Large Crude Carrier have entered the waterway to load crude oil.
The growing uncertainty pushed oil prices up by about 2%, with Brent crude climbing above $90 a barrel on Monday.
The U.S. military also confirmed another fatality linked to the conflict. A service member was killed in northern Iraq on Saturday during the controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance recovered from a downed Iranian attack drone.
Earlier, the Pentagon announced that two U.S. service members were killed in Jordan and another was reported missing following Friday’s attack.
On Sunday, CENTCOM said unidentified human remains had been recovered from the scene and forensic examinations were underway to determine their identity.
The latest announcement brings the number of U.S. military personnel killed since the conflict began to 17, with more than 420 others wounded.
The war, which erupted after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 targeting Tehran’s nuclear and missile programmes and its regional allies, has since claimed thousands of lives, most of them in Iran and Lebanon.
