The war between the United States and Iran entered its tenth consecutive night of American strikes on Tuesday, with both sides expanding the geographic scope of their attacks beyond the Strait of Hormuz into a wider arc spanning the Gulf, Jordan and Iraq.
US Central Command confirmed it carried out a new wave of strikes against Iran beginning at 4 p.m. ET on Monday, targeting Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, and missile and drone launch sites intended to reduce Iran's ability to attack commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. Explosions were reported across nine locations — Abdanan, Bandar Abbas, Bandar Lengeh, Bushehr, Chabahar, Qeshm Island, Sirik, Shiraz and Konarak — marking a notable inland extension of the campaign, with Shiraz among the newly hit cities.
CENTCOM said the naval blockade imposed on Iranian ports since mid-July had already redirected seven commercial vessels and disabled one, while noting that roughly 900 commercial vessels carrying 450 million barrels of crude had transited the strait since May under US protection.
Iran retaliates across four fronts
Tehran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and army reported a burst of retaliatory strikes on Monday and Tuesday against US-linked targets in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan:
- In Bahrain, the IRGC said it destroyed a US air-defense system and radar in Muharraq and hit a Patriot battery in Riffa, and separately claimed to have struck Amazon Web Services data infrastructure as retaliation for the US strike on the Darkhoveyn nuclear plant under construction in Khuzestan.
- In Kuwait, Iran's army said it struck HIMARS systems at Camp Arifjan, while the IRGC claimed hits on a US drone hangar at Ali Al Salem air base and on radar, communications and satellite facilities.
- In Jordan, the IRGC claimed a strike on a complex housing US troops in the Rukban area, adding to earlier missile fire that Jordan's military said it intercepted before it caused casualties or damage.
Iran's army spokesman, Mohammad Akraminia, said Tuesday that Iranian forces would strike US troops even on Iranian-owned islands if American forces set foot there — signaling Tehran's readiness to accept damage to its own territory rather than cede ground.
The IRGC said "massive fires" broke out on two tankers after they used what it called the unsafe southern shipping route through Hormuz. Separately, the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency reported a tanker was struck by an unidentified projectile off Oman's coast near Limah, forcing the crew to abandon ship for a lifeboat — the latest in a string of similar incidents, including an earlier hit on a vessel east of Dibba, UAE.
Casualties mount, Trump escalates rhetoric
The Pentagon confirmed to CBS News that nearly 100 US service members have been injured since July 7, though spokesperson Sean Parnell said 96% had returned to duty, mostly after minor concussions. The Pentagon separately named two soldiers killed in the July 17–18 Jordan strikes: Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, and 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25.
President Trump wrote on Truth Social that Iran would "pay many times over" for every American service member killed, and separately accused Tehran of killing 52,000 protesters and of a decades-long pattern of killing Americans. The Financial Times reported that regime-change proposals — including a shelved Israeli plan to arm Kurdish groups — are resurfacing inside the administration after diplomacy stalled.
Mediation efforts continue in parallel
Despite the escalation, Qatar and Pakistan are pushing a joint diplomatic track. Iran's Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni traveled to Islamabad carrying a message from President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Israeli media reported Qatar has proposed a US pause on strikes in exchange for Iran reopening both Hormuz shipping lanes for ten days. A senior US official told Axios that "these devastating blows will continue... but talks between our countries are continuing."
Market and regional impact
US gasoline prices climbed back to a $4-a-gallon national average. Oil prices eased slightly Tuesday — Brent at $88.87, WTI near $82.47 — as mediation hopes offset renewed fears of a wider Gulf conflagration, including a Houthi threat to blockade Saudi Arabia that Riyadh has firmly rejected. Britain's new prime minister, Andy Burnham, told Trump London remains committed to securing Hormuz shipping.