• Hourslong strikes:The US military said it hit dozens of Iranian military targets in a second night of strikes. Iranian state media said its forces were responding with a fresh wave of attacks toward US bases in the region
• Diplomatic breakdown: Iran says the US is undermining talks with Oman on ensuring safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. The weekend’s escalation has threatened the fragile agreementbetween Washington andTehran as they near the halfway mark of a 60-day window to negotiate a deal
• US allies under fire:Sirens were activated in Bahrain while the military in Kuwait said it was dealing with “hostile aerial targets.” Jordan’s military intercepted four missiles it said were launched by Iran
• Oil prices climb:Brent crude and US crude prices were up over 3% on Monday as concerns deepen over Tehran’s declared closure of the strait
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Commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, on, June 30.
Iran has insisted that it wants to ensure the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, but again claimed that the United States is obstructing its efforts
Talks in Oman at the weekend had been focused solely on a new arrangement for the strait, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Monday
“Our effort was to reach a mechanism, in consultation with Oman, to ensure the safe passage of ships,” he said, but “this was not achieved due to the overt and covert pressures of the United States on Oman.”
Baghaei was speaking after a second consecutive night of US strikes across Iran, with Iran retaliating by targeting US military facilities in several Gulf states
So long as Washington “continues to violate its commitments, the Islamic Republic of Iran will likewise refrain from fulfilling the obligations it has undertaken,” Baghaei said
As a coastal state, Iran has “both the right and the responsibility to take the necessary measures to safeguard our security and national interests,” Baghaei said
US “claims about escorting commercial vessels are themselves evidence of Washington’s determination to perpetuate insecurity in the region,” he added
Iran has insisted it has a role in managing traffic through the Strait; the United States is demanding unfettered freedom of navigation and has encouraged shipping to use a route close to the coast of Oman
Over the weekend, an Indian container ship was struck by a drone off the coast of Oman. Iran’s IRGC Navy says a vessel using an unapproved route in Strait was ‘struck’ by a warning shot and stopped
The incident triggered fresh US strikes on Saturday and Sunday night
A customer checks on gas price at a gas station in Buffalo Grove, on June 25.
Oil prices are rising as escalating attacks between the United States and Iran deepen concerns over Tehran’s declared closure of the Strait of Hormuz
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, climbed 3.60% to $78.7 a barrel, up from its recent low of around $70 a barrel. WTI, the US benchmark, climbed 3.50% to $73.92 a barrel. Oil prices are still well below their wartime peaks of above $120 a barrel for Brent
The exchange of attacks between the US and Iran “has increasingly centred on the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has claimed the waterway is effectively closed and warned vessels against transiting, even as US officials insist it remains open and are actively escorting commercial traffic,” Deutsche Bank analysts wrote in a note Monday
“Reports of damage to vessels, intercepted missiles and drones, and strikes on military and energy-linked sites across the Gulf underscore the widening scope of the conflict,” they added
US allies Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan all reported responding to aerial threats on Monday morning local time, after Iran said it was launching strikes across the region in response to US attacks on its territory
Sirens were activatedin Bahrain while the military in Kuwait said it was dealing with “hostile aerial targets,” and Jordan’s military intercepted four missiles from Iran. All three countries also reported aerial attacks on Sunday
In Bahrain, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said its air force struck the Isa Air Base, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported
The Isa Air Base doesn’t hold a permanent US presence, but rather periodic rotations of US personnel
Bases housing US operations in Kuwait were also hit, including a missile base that was set on fire, where missile launchers and ammunition depots were destroyed, the IRGC said
In Jordan, the IRGC said it had targeted several large missile depots and fuel storage facilities at Prince Hassan Air Base, in a statement
CNN could not verify reports of strikes on US bases. CNN has reached out to Central Command, which is responsible for US forces in the region, for comment on the Iranian state media reports
CNN’s Lex Harvey and Yasha Saebi contributed reporting
The conflict between the US and Iran has devolved into a “very determined fight over who controls the Strait of Hormuz,” said Mehran Kamrava, professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar
“Iran is keenly aware of the fact that it cannot match the United States and Israel militarily. So, it is trying to turn the conflict from a military one into an economic one,” Kamrava said, adding it has “in some ways succeeded in doing so.”
“Iran is determined to hold onto the Strait of Hormuz as a
“Iran wants to establish some sort of administrative influence, and the Americans are determined to undermine that influence.”
The US has claimed its strikes are intended to reduce Iran’s ability to attack ships in the crucial waterway
“It’s all about the Strait of Hormuz right now,” Kamrava said
Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drones are positioned on the tarmac at a base in the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) operating area, on November 25, 2023.
US Central Command says it used “one-way attack aerial drones, and one-way attack sea drones for the first time” in strikes against Iran on Sunday
The exact type of drones or in what numbers each were used was not specified in its press release
US aerial attack drones saw their first use early in the war with Iran, when CENTCOM deployed the Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) – essentially a knock off of the Iranian-designed Shahed 136 drones that Russia has used in large numbers in its war on Ukraine
“These low-cost drones, modeled after Iran’s Shahed drones, are now delivering American-made retribution,” CENTCOM said in a social media post at the time
As for sea drones, the US has been experimenting with a few types, according to analyst Carl Schuster, a former director of the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center
“The most suitable for one-way strikes is the Fleet-class unmanned surface vessel (USV),” Schuster told CNN
These craft were designed for mine-countermeasures or anti-submarine missions, but with a speed of more than 40 mph theycould be adapted for one-way, “suicide strikes,” he said
“They are expensive (over $2 million per) but … would be hard to stop,” Schuster said, adding that the USV and the LUCAS aerial drones are designed to be deployed from US Navy littoral combat ships
CNN has geolocated and verified videos from Iran showing the aftermath of a strike at an airport in Omidiyeh, a southwestern city
The videos posted on Monday showed an aircraft hangar in flames after being struck
Valiollah Hayati, the deputy governor of the Iranian province of Khuzestan, said Omidiyeh was among several cities targeted by US strikes early Monday local time He did not mention the airport and said authorities are currently assessing the affected areas for damage
US Central Command said on Sunday evening ET that it had completed its latest wave of strikes in Iran, hitting “dozens” of targets
CNN’s Lex Harvey and Yasha Saebi contributed reporting
The United States launched an hourslong wave of strikes against Iran on Sunday night
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it hit dozens of Iranian military targets in its latest strikes
As sunrise approached over the Gulf, Iran responded to the attack by targeting regional US bases, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said
- US renews Iran strikes: Forces launched strikes against Iran at 5 p.m. ET Sunday “to continue degrading their ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM said, adding the order was given by US President Donald Trump.
- One killed:Explosions were reported in the south of Iran. Asecurity guard was killed and four others were wounded after a projectile hit a water pumping station in Mahshahr County, southwestern Iran, state media IRNA reported citing an Iranian official.
- Iran responds:Following the hourslong strike, Iran attacked US military bases with drones and missiles, the IRGC said. Sirens were activated in Bahrain, the country’s interior ministry said. In Kuwait, the military said it was dealing with aerial threats. And Jordan’s military intercepted four missiles from within its airspace, according to state media.
- Oil prices rise: Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 3.92% to $78.99 a barrel Sunday. US crude climbed 3.44% to $73.87 a barrel.
CNN’s Eyad Kourdi, Lex Harvey, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Yasha Saebi and Zachary Cohen contributed to this report
A projectile is fired during what the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said were strikes on Iran, in this screen grab taken from a handout video released on July 12.
It’s been a volatile weekend in the Middle East. The flare-up between the US and Iran comes as both countries near the halfway mark of a 60-day window to negotiate the final terms of a deal,following an initial agreement in June
What happenedover the weekend:
As mediators race to revive diplomacy, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi travels to Muscat to meet with his Omani counterpart. Oman drafts a tentative proposal to manage traffic in the Strait of Hormuz through two separately controlled routes, according to a source
Hours later, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) say they fired a warning shot at a vessel trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz
The US military launches its third round of strikes in a week, saying the IRGC “blatantly attacked” a Cyprus-flagged container ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Multiple explosions are reported in the south of Iran. In a later update, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) says it hit 140 Iranian military targets
The IRGC says it launched strikes on US military targets across the Gulf. Authorities in Gulf nations report defending against attacks, including in Qatar, where three people are hurt by falling debris during interception operations
Indian authorities say one of its nationals is missing after an attack on a commercial vessel on the Strait of Hormuz. It adds 10 others were rescued from the ship
The US and Iran are at odds over the status of the Strait Hormuz. US President Donald Trump and CENTCOM insist the waterway is open, while Iran’s strait authority says the passage of vessels is “not possible.”
The US military launches another round of strikes after the previous day’s assault in the evening and says it hit dozens of Iranian military targets. Iran reports multiple explosions in the south of the country, including at a water pumping station where one person was killed
Iran says it conducted a new wave of missile and drone attacks toward US bases in the region, including those in Kuwait and Bahrain
Dalia Abdelwahab, Aleena Fayaz, Eyad Kourdi, Mitchell McCluskey, Laura Sharman, Julia Benbrook, Billy Stockwell, Aida Karimi, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Zachary Cohen, Piper Hudspeth Blackburn and Lex Harvey contributed reporting
Oil prices climbed Sunday after a weekend of strikes between the United States and Iran
Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 3.92% to $78.99 a barrel, and US crude climbed 3.44% to $73.87 a barrel
But the increase is “pretty tame,” Bob McNally, founder and president of Rapidan Energy Group, told CNN. Brent crude oil prices have trended lower since reaching $115 a barrel in April
McNally said oil prices have fallen because of President Donald Trump’s reassurance that he wants the Strait of Hormuz open to avoid “a real economic and financial catastrophe.”
Iran has warned vessels against using alternative routes, such as traveling along the Omani coastline. The Omani “southern route” remains open, according to a naval advisory board
With the uptick in oil prices, gas prices may soon be on the rise. An average gallon of gas in the US costs about $3.87, according to data from AAA — a 30% increase from when the war began in late February
Gas prices had reached an average of $4.56 on Memorial Day, a busy weekend for drivers. McNally said the drop since the holiday is due to crude oil having “really unwound most of its war gains. That’s partly due to the president’s messaging and balancing on that.”
Meanwhile, Dow Jones futures and S&P futures slipped 0.2%, while Nasdaq futures dropped 0.3%
Washington and Tehran have been making contradictory claims about the status of marine traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, which is key to Tehran’s leverage in negotiations
Over the weekend, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it closed the Strait of Hormuz after firing a warning shot at a vessel attempting to use an unauthorized route to cross the waterway
Iran’s strait authority later backed up the claim andsaid the passage of vessels is “not possible” and it would review permits once “stability and calm are restored.”
US Central Command declared the waterway was “open to all vessels” and US forces were prepared to ensure “freedom of navigation.”
The Joint Maritime Information Center, which is overseen by the US Navy, also said the “southern route” through the strait, which hugs the Omani coastline, remains open for two-way traffic
US President Donald Trump also told CNN “it’s open as far as we’re concerned.”
Tracking data shows traffic was reduced to a trickle Sunday
CNN’s Lex Harvey, Julia Benbrook, Billy Stockwell, Aida Karimi, Catherine Nicholls and Izzy Lippolis contributed reporting
