Overview
- Over the weekend U.S. Central Command said American forces struck roughly 140 Iranian targets in one night and more than 300 targets over three nights to blunt Tehran’s ability to attack commercial vessels.
- Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and its Persian Gulf Strait Authority said they had closed the Strait of Hormuz and expanded missile and drone strikes to U.S. facilities and allied sites in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and Oman.
- The strait’s closure claim is disputed: U.S. military and maritime centres say an ‘expanded’ southern route near Oman remains open and that U.S. forces are escorting and protecting lawful shipping.
- Commercial consequences have been immediate: oil benchmarks rose about 3–4 percent, ship traffic through Hormuz fell sharply, and an attack on the Cyprus‑flagged GFS Galaxy left 23 crew rescued and one sailor reported missing.
- The surge in strikes has widened the war’s geographic reach, undermined the 60‑day interim agreement intended to reopen the strait, and complicated mediation efforts led by Oman, Qatar and Pakistan.