The U.S. on Monday evening bombed Iran for the third consecutive night, with Iran again retaliating against U.S. bases, as the Iran War entered its 137th day.
U.S. Central Command said it hit targets in Bushehr, Chabahar, Jask, Konarak, Abu Musa, and Bandar Abbas while Iran’s IRGC said it targeted the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, a U.S. military air base in Jordan, and Iranian Kurdish opposition group facilities in Iraq.
Iran’s IRGC claimed it killed three U.S. service members in Kuwait over the weekend. CENTCOM initially denied any casualties, but the Pentagon’s official death toll rose by one Monday with the death in early July of a Navy pilot in a helicopter crash. Iranian media says that at least 23 people have been killed in U.S. strikes on Iran since hostilities resumed.
The Strait of Hormuz remained a flashpoint in the breakdown of negotiations and resumption of hostilities between the U.S. and Iran. Iran currently retains control over the northern part of the waterway and points to article five of the MOU signed by President Donald Trump and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, which says that “the Islamic Republic of Iran will make arrangements” for the Strait of Hormuz and that the “future administration” of the waterway would be determined by Iran and Oman. Trump on Monday proposed that the U.S. would become “THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT” and charge a protection fee of 20 percent of each ship’s cargo.
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The U.S. has exerted pressure to open up an alternate route through the Strait, near the Omani coastline beyond Iranian control. Iran opposes the creation of that separate Omani channel and has attacked ships which attempt to pass through it, most recently on Monday when two UAE-flagged supertankers were struck by Iranian cruise missiles. Shipping tracker Kpler reported Monday that recorded uses of the Omani channel had subsequently “almost disappeared” in recent days.
Saudi Arabia was reported to have bombed Sanaa International Airport in Yemen on Monday while the Houthis said they launched missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia’s Abha International Airport in response. The Houthis also said on Monday that they would impose a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia.
The price of oil continued to rise amid the resumption of war, with Brent crude reaching $87 per barrel on Tuesday morning, up roughly 17 percent since July 7.
