U.S., Iran intensify attacks over Strait of Hormuz

U.S., Iran intensify attacks over Strait of Hormuz

'A return to full-scale hostilities would have catastrophic consequences,' says UN

U.S., Iran trade strikes as Tehran declares Strait of Hormuz closed

The United States launched several waves of strikes on Iran on Sunday over an Iranian attack on a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz that set it ablaze and left a crew member missing the day before. Iran responded with attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and Oman — the nation on the other side of the strait that Tehran has pressed to collaborate in managing shipping traffic.

The U.S. military said it was seeking "to degrade" Iran's "ability to attack commercial ships freely transiting" the critical strait. The statement came after a third round of strikes late Sunday night and into Monday in Iran.

The first wave, on Sunday morning, came in response to an Iranian strike on a container ship in the critical waterway on Saturday. Iran responded to those strikes by attacking Gulf Arab states in an escalating cycle of violence that left the negotiations between Tehran and Washington to end the war at the edge of collapse.

The U.S. struck again later in the day. The governor of Qeshm Island near the strait told Iran's state-run IRNA news agency that projectiles were fired at military targets, with no casualties. Explosions were also heard in the coastal city of Bandar Abbas and Hajiabad city to the north.

Iran and the U.S. are nearly at the midway point of the 60-day period of their interim deal aimed at reaching a permanent end to the war. The strait, a key route for the global supply of oil and natural gas and long considered an international waterway, has become a sticking point in negotiations that seem in danger of collapse.

"A return to full-scale hostilities would have catastrophic consequences," United Nations secretary general António Guterres said, according to a statement.

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The U.S. military earlier Sunday said it hit some 140 targets, including missile and drone launch sites, ammunition dumps, communication equipment and other sites.

The attacks were heavier than in recent days. The U.S. has launched three rounds of airstrikes targeting Iran in the past week over attacks on ships heading through the strait using a route off Oman, seeking to avoid the Islamic Republic's territorial waters.

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"We bombed the hell out of them last night," U.S. President Donald Trump told NBC's Meet the Press.

Semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported that a navy officer was killed. Iran retaliated by attacking nations in the region hosting U.S. military forces, while insisting it alone must control the strait and potentially charge vessels for traveling through it.

"The era of one-sided deals is OVER," Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran's parliament and a main negotiator, wrote. "We told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking."

Iran said the strait was closed until calm is restored, and Tehran would consider targeting "additional enemy bases in the region" if it faced more attacks. The U.S. military and Trump asserted that the strait remained open.

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The U.S. military said over 140 ships had transited over the past week. A multinational body overseen by the U.S. Navy said traffic continued "at reduced levels" off both Oman and Iran, and that nearly 140 vessels transited daily before the war.

About a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed through the strait before the war. Iran's grip on it led to a global energy crisis, though oil prices have sharply dropped since wartime highs of $120 a barrel.

Missile alerts sounded across several Gulf Arab countries.

Qatar's military said it intercepted incoming Iranian fire, with explosions heard in the neighbouring United Arab Emirates. Three people, including a child, were wounded by shrapnel from the interception of attacks, Qatar's Interior Ministry said.

Missile alerts sounded in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

Kuwait's Defence Ministry said three "land border posts" in the north and an offshore drilling platform of the Kuwait Oil Company were damaged, with one worker wounded.

Three Iranian missiles struck areas across Jordan, causing minor damage but no injuries, Jordan's state news agency reported.

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And the Omani state news agency said drones struck sites in an area on the waterway, a day after Oman and Iran held talks on the strait and agreed to continue discussions. The strait sits in Iran and Oman's territorial waters.

Oman summoned the Iranian ambassador to protest the strikes, the first such move since the war began, calling Iran's acts "irresponsible."

The Cyprus-flagged container ship hit by Iran suffered "significant engine room damage," the U.S. military said.

Oman's maritime authority said it rescued 23 crew members, but one was missing. India's foreign ministry called him an Indian national.

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The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre, overseen by the British military, said the ship had been moving along Oman's shoreline.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard said multiple vessels "disregarded our warnings" and ignored instructions to follow what it called an approved route. One "was struck by a warning shot and brought to a stop."

Iranian state media later reported U.S. strikes across the country, including southern Iran in the province closest to the strait and military sites in a province near Tehran.

Trump suggested last week that the interim deal in the war was "over." But mediators, including Pakistan, Qatar and Egypt, have continued efforts to reach an agreement.

Pakistan said its foreign minister spoke by phone with Iran's top diplomat and urged "de-escalation" on both sides.

Iran's new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, unseen since the war began, on Saturday vowed in his first statement since the funeral of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that Iranians would avenge his killing in the war's opening strikes on Feb. 28.