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A woman stands at the water’s edge along the Strait of Hormuz as a plume of smoke rises in the background following an explosion, off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, July 13, 2026. (Razieh Poudat\/ISNA via AP)<\/p>\n
Razieh Poudat\/AP Photo\/Razieh Poudat<\/p>\n
A billboard depicting U.S. President Donald Trump lying on what appears to be a coffin and bearing anti-Trump messages, including the phrase “We Kill Trump,” is seen at Islamic Revolution Square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, July 15, 2026.<\/p>\n
Vahid Salemi\/AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi<\/p>\n
An army cadet walks past a billboard bearing anti-Trump messages, including the phrase “We Kill Trump,” at Islamic Revolution Square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, July 15, 2026.<\/p>\n
Vahid Salemi\/AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi<\/p>\n
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 The U.S. reimposed a naval blockade on Iran and intensified its airstrike campaign Wednesday in retaliation for Tehran\u2019s attacks on ships trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. The American strikes hit an Iranian army barracks, killed at least seven troops and wounded more than 300 people across the country, Iranian officials said.<\/p>\n
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Days of back-and-forth strikes by the U.S. and Iran across the Middle East \u2014 and renewed threats to the waterway crucial to global energy supplies \u2014 have shredded the interim deal to end the conflict and the region could tip back into all-out war.<\/p>\n
The U.S. first imposed a blockade in April and then lifted it last month after signing the interim deal that paused the fighting and set a 60-day period for negotiations over issues such as Iran\u2019s nuclear program. Those talks have stalled as fighting over the Strait of Hormuz has intensified.<\/p>\n
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When the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran effectively closed the waterway to shipping traffic \u2014 a move that sent the price of oil, fertilizer and many other goods soaring far beyond the region and gave Iran major leverage in negotiations. Those rising prices pose a particular challenge to U.S. President Donald Trump and his Republican Party, which hopes to retain control of Congress in elections in November. But Washington has struggled to successfully reopen the waterway.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened Wednesday to halt all energy exports from the Middle East over the blockade.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
Both the US and Iran launch attacks as the blockade is reimposed<\/p>\n
The U.S. carried out a wave of strikes, hitting dozens of targets overnight, the military\u2019s Central Command said Wednesday, and then resumed striking Iran during daylight \u2014 an unusual move that further signaled the increasing tempo of the attacks.<\/p>\n
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Within 17 hours of reimposing the blockade on Iranian ports, Central Command said U.S. forces had \u201credirected\u201d two commercial vessels attempting to run the blockade.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe U.S. military remains vigilant and prepared to ensure full compliance,\u201d it said on social media.<\/p>\n
Among the U.S. military’s targets was Greater Tunb Island, which is viewed as a strategic point in the Strait of Hormuz. Central Command said the attack targeted Iranian defense and missile sites.<\/p>\n
Iran took control of three islands \u2014 Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb \u2014 from what would become the United Arab Emirates in 1971. The UAE has sought to reclaim them.<\/p>\n
Some analysts have suggested that if the U.S. seized the islands, they could allow it to control the strait.<\/p>\n
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Another strike targeted a barracks for Iran\u2019s 388th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, which operates tanks and armored vehicles, in Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iranian state television reported. The report said the Americans fired at least 13 missiles in the attack and that the seven dead included conscripts and career soldiers. A number of troops were wounded.<\/p>\n
More than 35 people have been killed by U.S. airstrikes in recent days, said Hossein Kermanpour, a spokesperson for the Iranian Health Ministry. At least 72 people are hospitalized, he added.<\/p>\n
The number of wounded was far larger than for any other round of recent violence between Iran and the U.S.<\/p>\n
The army said it would make \u201ca decisive response to this aggressive action by the American enemy,\u201d according to state TV.<\/p>\n
Missile alert warnings sounded in Bahrain and Kuwait early Wednesday as they faced incoming Iranian fire \u2014 a daily occurrence in recent days. Jordan said it shot down three incoming Iranian missiles. Iran claimed attacks on the three nations, all of which host U.S. forces.<\/p>\n
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U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads Central Command, said in a statement that Iran had launched dozens of missiles and drones at neighboring Gulf Arab countries.<\/p>\n
Trump told the Fox News Channel on Tuesday night that more U.S. strikes against Iran would come over the next two days and that bridges and power plants could be targeted by next week unless negotiations resume. Already, the U.S. has struck at least one bridge.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou better make a deal, or you\u2019re not going to have anything left,\u201d Trump warned.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, criticized America\u2019s attacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe U.S. is the aggressor, not the victim,\u201d he wrote to the world body\u2019s leader, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.<\/p>\n
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The Strait of Hormuz remains at the heart of the fighting<\/p>\n
The latest round of fighting is focused on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world\u2019s oil and natural gas trade passes during peacetime. How to reopen the strait has bedeviled the U.S. since Iran choked it off in the early days of the war.<\/p>\n
During the interim deal, some ships began moving through the passage using a route near Oman overseen by the U.S. military that is outside Tehran\u2019s control.<\/p>\n
In recent days, Iran attacked ships using that route \u2014 and back-and-forth attacks ensued. The U.S. has threatened to reopen the strait by force \u2014 but experts say that would require a much bigger armada if not tens of thousands of ground troops. Imposing the blockade is another way to put pressure on Iran.<\/p>\n
But in the meantime, oil prices are rising. The price for Brent crude oil, the international standard, traded above $85 a barrel on Wednesday \u2014 more than 15% higher than the price before the war, but still well below the nearly $120 reached at the height of the conflict.<\/p>\n
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Analysts with the International Monetary Fund warned Wednesday that while a surplus of oil had kept prices low, \u201cmuch of that room has now been used up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs tensions flare again in the Strait of Hormuz, that room is now smaller and shrinking further as spare capacity has been deployed, demand has compressed, and inventories have been drawn down,\u201d Azim Sadikov and Jean-Marc Natal wrote in a blog post. \u201cUnless inventories are replenished, the world will start from a weaker position when the next shock comes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regional mediators are still trying to get the United States and Iran back to the negotiating table.<\/p>\n
Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A woman stands at the water’s edge along the Strait of Hormuz as a plume of smoke rises…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[11737,2290,38,34,60641,60786,3284,3285,3282,3281,3283,12512,3286],"class_list":["post-208171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-amir-saeid-iravani","tag-brad-cooper","tag-donald-trump","tag-iran","tag-iran-us-hormuz-strait-war-july-15-2026","tag-jean-marc-natal","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100373-mc-complete-state-national","tag-product-30598-ap-national-news-report-a-wire","tag-product-31998-ap-online-national-news","tag-product-32505-ap-online-middle-east-news","tag-product-32509-ap-online-religion-columns","tag-product-46986-ap-online-top-stories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116924854200464313","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}