The US launched new air strikes on Iranian targets on Tuesday, quashing hopes that an exchange of fire last weekend might not lead to a wider renewal of hostilities.<\/p>\n
Oil prices had already risen after that first exchange of direct attacks since July and after reports of two tankers being hit on Monday leaving the strait, the global oil supply waterway that Iran has effectively closed to shipping. Brent crude futures, already up 2% on the day, jumped almost 2% more on the reports. <\/p>\n
Tehran remained defiant, warning that it would prevent oil being exported from the Gulf, despite a threat by US President Donald Trump to hit Iran \u201chard\u201d in response to the renewed Iranian strikes, and a warning from US treasury secretary Scott Bessent that Washington was about to impose new sanctions.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday at 12pm ET (6pm), US forces began striking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in Iran,\u201d US Central Command posted on X. \u201cThe strikes follow recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s state broadcaster said there had been reports of explosions on Iran\u2019s Qeshm Island, on the northern side of the strait.<\/p>\n
The state-linked news agency Nour News said there had been reports of explosions in the port city of Bandar Abbas and in Chabahar, a port on the southern coast. The state news agency IRNA also reported the sound of explosions in Jask and Sirik.<\/p>\n
Trump posted on his social media channel that if Iran retaliated for the attack, \u201cthey will be hit again at a much harder and higher level\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Fars news agency cited an IRGC spokesperson as saying the US \u201cwill regret its new attacks\u201d.<\/p>\n
Scale of resumption or Iran hostilities unclear<\/p>\n
The US Embassy in Qatar urged Americans in the Middle East to exercise \u201cheightened vigilance and be aware of potential flight cancellations, airspace closures, and travel disruptions\u201d.<\/p>\n
The six-month-old conflict had shifted into an economic standoff before the weekend strikes, in which US forces attacked Iran\u2019s Larak Island on Sunday and Iran responded by launching missiles at two US air bases in Jordan.<\/a><\/p>\n Though he warned of a US response to the Iranian strikes, Trump also told reporters on Monday that they did not signal a return to full-scale war, and a senior Iranian source said they were a \u201climited and contained confrontation\u201d.<\/p>\n But pledges by both sides to respond to further attacks have highlighted how quickly a conflict that has increasingly been fought through sanctions, blockades and economic pressure could spill back into military action.<\/p>\n Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had said early on Tuesday at a regional summit in Kyrgyzstan that Tehran would reciprocate immediately if Washington failed to honour its commitments under a June Memorandum of Understanding that was intended to halt the conflict.<\/p>\n The MOU declared an end to fighting that has now killed thousands in Iran and Lebanon since US and Israeli strikes began on February 28. But it also deferred many of the most difficult issues and paved the way for a broader 60-day negotiation period \u2014 which passed without further agreement.<\/p>\n Iranian officials have shown no public sign since then of bowing to pressure.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the enemy wants us not to export oil from the Persian Gulf, no one will be able to export oil,\u201d Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf was quoted as saying by Iranian media.<\/p>\n The tit-for-tat missile exchanges between the US and Iran bring validation to those who believe that even if not a \u2018forever war\u2019, this conflict will run and run.<\/p>\n \u2014 \u00a0PVM analyst John Evans<\/p>\n Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told a press conference in Tehran that Washington was \u201caddicted to making excessive demands and has mistaken negotiations for dictating terms\u201d.<\/p>\n New US economic sanctions loom<\/p>\n \u201cAs long as they act in this manner, they will certainly get no result other than what they have achieved so far,\u201d he added, warning that Tehran would \u201cuse all our capabilities, whether on the battlefield or through our diplomatic apparatus\u201d.<\/p>\n