The Strait of Hormuz remains closed after Iran effectively blocked the waterway in response to US-Israeli strikes. Tanker traffic through one of the world's most critical energy corridors has slowed to a two-month low, and global oil prices are surging as of mid-July 2026.

The strait is a narrow channel at the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which roughly a fifth of the world's daily oil supply normally passes. When it closes, the ripple effects on fuel prices and energy markets are almost immediate.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) has conducted multiple waves of strikes against Iranian military targets since early July, hitting command centres, air defence sites, and coastal surveillance facilities across Iran, including in Bandar Abbas and Greater Tunb Island. An overnight operation on July 14 lasted five hours, part of what has become a sustained campaign over control of the strait. Earlier rounds struck over 80 targets on July 7, approximately 90 targets on July 7-8, and roughly 140 targets in a subsequent wave. Locations hit include Bushehr, Chah Bahar, Jask, Konarak, Abu Musa, and southern Iranian coastal sites. CENTCOM employed precision munitions — guided weapons designed to hit specific targets with minimal surrounding damage — launched by land- and sea-based fighter aircraft, drones, and cruise missiles.

Iranian state media reported explosions across the country and air defences activated in Tehran. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said a children's cancer treatment centre in Ahvaz was evacuated after strikes on a nearby location.

Iran has retaliated across the region. The Iranian military said it targeted US communication systems and fuel storage facilities in Jordan. Iran also said it carried out drone attacks on US military bases and facilities in Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain, firing seven ballistic missiles toward Kuwait and Bahrain. US forces shot down four Iranian drones. Kuwait's military intercepted drone attacks, and Bahrain's interior ministry told citizens to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place. Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on July 13 strongly condemning Iran's repeated attacks on Jordan, Bahrain, and Kuwait.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards — a powerful military branch separate from Iran's conventional army, answerable directly to Iran's supreme leader — said their navy stopped two ships in the Strait of Hormuz by shutting down their systems. The Revolutionary Guard Corps also warned the US to "expect the closure of other oil and gas export routes that serve the interests of the United States and its allies." The Iranian military declared the strait an "unbreakable red line." Iran's top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, told Iranian state media that Tehran had "no reason" to abide by any agreement that did not benefit Iran, and stated Iran's national security depended on maintaining "Iranian arrangements" in the Strait of Hormuz.

On the maritime enforcement front, the US resumed a blockade on Iranian ports that had been previously lifted as part of a memorandum of understanding struck the previous month. A blockade, in this context, means using naval forces to prevent ships from entering or leaving a country's ports — a tool of economic pressure. US forces fired on and disabled an unladen, Curacao-flagged oil tanker that CENTCOM said was attempting to sail toward a blockaded Iranian port. This stands in sharp contrast to CENTCOM's June 20 report that commercial vessels were flowing through an open Strait of Hormuz with ship traffic increasing.

Russia's Foreign Minister said US attacks on Iran violated the recently signed memorandum of understanding. Iran sent a letter to the UN Security Council on July 7 complaining about repeated US strikes on Iranian territory. Iran has also warned the United States it would target remaining regional infrastructure.

Donald Trump threatened to target Iran's energy infrastructure if Tehran failed to return to talks. In a separate development, Trump welcomed Iran's release of American detainee Dena Karari, whom Trump said was "wrongfully detained" in December 2024. Her attorney, Jared Genser, posted on X that she was on her way back to the US. Trump posted his reaction on his Truth Social platform.

The broader context here is a rapid and continuing breakdown of whatever diplomatic scaffolding existed before this escalation. The memorandum of understanding that briefly lifted the port blockade and allowed commercial traffic to resume through Hormuz in June has collapsed under the weight of sustained military operations from both sides. With CENTCOM conducting successive strike waves of increasing scale, from 80 to 140 targets across four rounds, and Iran simultaneously opening fronts against US infrastructure in Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain, the conflict has expanded well beyond a bilateral maritime dispute into a regional confrontation involving multiple Gulf states.

Several dynamics warrant attention. The Revolutionary Guards' threat to close additional oil and gas export routes suggests Iran is calculating that economic disruption is its primary leverage, not territorial defence. The warning extends the logic of the Hormuz blockade to a wider theater. The involvement of Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan as either targets or affected parties draws in states that have historically sought to avoid entanglement in US-Iran confrontations. Qatar's condemnation of Iran's attacks on these states signals that even Doha, which has often positioned itself as a mediator with Tehran, is finding the breadth of Iranian retaliation difficult to accommodate. The release of Dena Karari alongside the military escalation creates a contradictory signal: a narrow humanitarian channel functioning even as broader military and economic instruments are fully engaged.

What remains unresolved is whether the diplomatic track Trump has demanded can reassert itself while the blockade remains in place, Hormuz stays closed, and both sides continue striking. Ghalibaf's framing leaves the door nominally open to an agreement, but his condition that any accord must demonstrably benefit Iran sets a threshold that is difficult to define, let alone meet, under current conditions.