The United States bombed Iran for the 12th night in a row on July 23, 2026. The US military command for the Middle East, called CENTCOM, said the latest strikes beginning at 02:30 GMT targeted Iran's ships, missile and drone storage sites, coastal monitoring stations, and air defenses (Al Jazeera).

The strikes hit several areas across at least three Iranian provinces. In Khuzestan, a province near the Iraqi border, US missiles struck near a passenger terminal in the town of Shalamcheh, killing two people and wounding 11, according to the deputy governor, who spoke to IRIB, Iran's state broadcaster. Al Jazeera correspondent Tohid Assidi reported that overnight strikes also hit Ramshir, where an asphalt facility was damaged, along with other cities in Khuzestan. Tasnim, an Iranian news agency, reported a strike on the outskirts of Andimeshk.

Further south, explosions were heard in Sirik, a city in Hormozgan province that overlooks the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway through which about a fifth of the world's oil supply travels. IRIB also reported explosions in Jask. ISNA, another Iranian news outlet, cited local port authorities saying two naval search and rescue vessels were seriously damaged. A governor confirmed that an overnight attack hit a power station near the Bushehr nuclear power plant, causing a blackout lasting several hours in the city.

Iran responded with its own attacks on US military bases in the region. A powerful branch of Iran's military called the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, said on July 23 that it destroyed a military equipment warehouse, a Patriot missile defense system (a surface-to-air system designed to shoot down incoming missiles), and a drone hangar at Ali Al Salem airbase in Kuwait. The IRGC also said it destroyed a THAAD radar (a system that tracks and intercepts ballistic missiles at long range), another Patriot system, and a C-RAM radar (a defense system against rockets and mortars) at a US base in Jordan, and set fuel tanks on fire. It separately claimed it destroyed a helicopter equipment warehouse and a repair shed at another US base in Jordan. None of these claims have been independently verified.

At sea, the IRGC said an explosion set an oil tanker on fire in the Strait of Hormuz after it tried to sail the southern route off the coast of Oman, and that two other ships quickly turned around. The UK Maritime Trade Operations center, which monitors shipping safety, reported on July 21 that a tanker was attacked by a suspected drone while heading through the Strait of Hormuz toward the Arabian Gulf. An earlier report from July 19 said a tanker was hijacked south of Al Mukalla and diverted toward Somali waters near the Bab el-Mandeb strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. A crew member was killed aboard the crude tanker MKD VYOM, which flies a Marshall Islands flag, after it was hit by a projectile off the coast of Oman.

Yemen's Houthis, a militant group aligned with Iran, said they attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea on July 22. The Houthis named the vessels as "Encelia" and "Layla" and said the attack happened because the ships violated a blockade the Houthis had declared (Al Jazeera). The group said it used missiles and drones, calling the operation part of a naval blockade against Saudi oil (Reuters). A Saudi news agency confirmed that one of the two vessels was hit (The Guardian). The Houthis have said they closed the Bab el-Mandeb strait to any ships linked to Saudi Arabia, in retaliation for Saudi Arabia's own blockade on Yemen (The Guardian).

The conflict has grown through July. US forces began strikes against Iran on July 7, according to CENTCOM, and have bombed the country every night since. Around July 11, the IRGC Navy declared the Strait of Hormuz closed "until further notice," as reported by IRIB, and Reuters reported that Iran expanded attacks on nearby Gulf states following US strikes. On July 15, CENTCOM said it struck Iranian command centers, air defense sites, and missile and drone capabilities "to further degrade Iran's" military capacity (NPR). That same day, the US military said it disabled an empty oil tanker heading toward Iran's Kharg Island after it ignored repeated warnings (Reuters).

Iran and the Houthis have been working together on a strategy to close or threaten key shipping lanes. Reuters reported on July 16 that Iran told the Houthis to be ready to shut the Bab el-Mandeb strait if the US struck Iran's power network. By July 20, Reuters reported that Iran was pressing the Houthis to close that Red Sea route if US attacks on Iranian power facilities continued. The overnight strike on a power station near the Bushehr nuclear plant now gives that threat a concrete trigger.

The cost of the war is large. US Secretary of Defense Hegseth estimated the cost of the Iran war at $37.5 billion as of July 21, according to The Guardian (The Guardian). US forces have also conducted joint strikes with coalition partners in Yemen, targeting Houthi infrastructure used to attack cargo ships and naval vessels.

The broader context here is a conflict unfolding across three of the world's most important shipping routes at the same time: the Strait of Hormuz, the Bab el-Mandeb, and the southern Red Sea. The US has shifted from targeting Iran's missiles and drones to hitting infrastructure like power stations and coastal monitoring systems, which makes it harder for Iran to operate from its southern coast. If the IRGC's claims about striking US bases in Kuwait and Jordan are true, it would mean Iran is directly attacking US positions in countries that had not been publicly named as targets before. The Houthi attacks on Saudi shipping add a third layer of pressure on oil exports from the Gulf, potentially forcing tankers to avoid both the Bab el-Mandeb and the Strait of Hormuz at the same time. Now that the power station near the Bushehr nuclear plant has been struck, and Iran had warned the Houthis to close the Bab el-Mandeb if exactly that happened, the question is whether the Houthis will act on that warning in the coming days.