The number of tankers crossing the Strait of Hormuz fell to just one on Thursday (July 24, 2026), the lowest level since May 7, according ‌to shiptracking data, amid ongoing shipping risks in the West Asia and as ⁠oil prices surged back to $100 a barrel.

Only one tanker crossed the Strait of Hormuz on July 23, compared with ‌three the day earlier, data from analytics firm Kpler showed.

Very large crude carrier New ‌Giant, loaded with 2 million barrels of Iraqi ‌Basrah ⁠crude, exited the strait on Thursday ⁠and is due to arrive at China’s Rizhao port by mid-August.- Reuters

Scattered debris and smoke, at an unknown location, during what the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) says are strikes on Iran, in this screengrab taken from a handout video released on July 22, 2026.
| Photo Credit:
U.S. Central Command via Reuters

Iranian state media reported that U.S. missiles struck locations late on Wednesday (July 22, 2026) near the cities of Ahvaz, Ramshir and Andimeshk in western Iran. Two people were killed in a U.S. missile strike in the town of Shalamcheh on the Iraqi boarder, Iranian state media said early on Thursday (July 23, 2026).

Also read: How the second phase of the Iran-U.S. war started and why it is raging | Explained

Seyed Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s Foreign Minister, said his country would adopt an “eye for an eye” defence doctrine. “Any aggression against Iran, including our infrastructure, will compel a powerful and decisive response,” he posted Wednesday on X.

The ‌U.S. ⁠military ⁠said late on Wednesday (July 22, 2026) that it ‌completed its latest round of ‌strikes on Iran ⁠at President Donald Trump’s ‌direction, marking the 12th ‌successive night of American attacks. U.S. Central Command said the attacks were designed to “further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting regional waters,” as the Americans push to regain control over the Strait of Hormuz and restore the flow of international shipping.

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The United States and Iran exchanged strikes aimed at infrastructure and military targets on Saturday (July 18, 2026) as an Iranian negotiator said Tehran had suspended its commitments under the interim deal with the U.S. — snapping another fragile thread as the war shows no end in sight.

Also read | West Asia war updates on July 18, 2026

The battle over the Strait of Hormuz intensified in a conflict increasingly focused on control of the essential waterway that previously carried a fifth of the world’s crude oil. The widening strikes threatened civilians and services to them, while the global economy again was on alert.

The U.S. Central Command said early Saturday (July 18, 2026) that its seventh straight night of strikes hit “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities.”

The U.S. has violated its commitments under the deal that was signed about a month ago, and now Iran is “no longer implementing them,” Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, told state TV.

Kuwait sees the most striking damage

The most significant damage on Saturday (July 18, 2026) occurred in Kuwait, when Iran struck a water desalination plant and an oil facility, according to the Kuwait authorities and the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. Both declined to provide locations.

The strikes injured several people at the oil facility and caused a fire at the desalination plant, forcing several power generation units offline. It was the second attack against a desalination plant in two days in the tiny desert nation that depends on desalination for 90% of its drinking water.

Several firefighters and a worker were injured while battling two other blazes sparked by Iranian strikes, according to the Kuwait Fire Force. Kuwait briefly closed its airspace due to missile threats, and Kuwait Airways said it was rescheduling most flights to and from the capital.

Iran targets several West Asian nations

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stepped up its warning that countries hosting US forces should be “prepared to receive a corresponding response,” according to Iran’s state TV.

Iraq said it shot down attack drones over the city of Irbil. Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency said the kingdom’s air defence systems had downed Iranian missiles, while air sirens sounded multiple times in Bahrain throughout the day and in Saudi Arabia in the morning, according to their governments.

Iranian officials say recent U.S. strikes have killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds in Iran. The U.S. military acknowledged that several more of its service members were injured.

Iran effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic after the war started with U.S. and Israeli strikes on February 28. That sent the price of oil soaring and has given Iran significant leverage in negotiations. The price of oil rose Friday (July 17, 2026) above $86 a barrel, close to its highest level in a month, as crossings through the strait fell to a three-week low, according to an international shipping tracker.

Before the war began, the U.S. had been in talks with Iran over its nuclear programme. Mr. Trump now faces political pressure to end the war and avoid the kind of prolonged West Asia conflict he had campaigned against.

U.S. strikes hit infrastructure in Iran

U.S. airstrikes hit an electricity and desalination plant in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, Iranian state TV reported. The attacks hit Bonji, a coastal village on the strait.

Overnight strikes damaged two tunnels and a bridge, disrupting one of the main highways toward Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main port that sits near the narrowest part of the strait, according to Iran’s state-run news agency. Iran also reported strikes on strategic Qeshm Island inside the strait.

Iran acknowledged “attacks on power infrastructure” during the U.S. airstrikes for the first time Friday (July 17, 2026) when its Energy Ministry issued a call for people to use less power in southern provinces “experiencing extreme heat.” It did not specify what was hit.

Iranian authorities said at least 50 people have been killed and more than 500 wounded in U.S. strikes in the past three weeks, including eight killed in a strike on a bridge Friday (July 17, 2026).

U.S. officials acknowledged 13 additional US service members — 10 Army soldiers and three Navy sailors — had been injured since Monday (July 13, 2026), but offered no details. Since the war began, 14 U.S. service members have been killed and 427 wounded.

Strikes come as Iran and U.S. vie for Strait of Hormuz

Iran has said the strait must be under its sole control and that vessels should pay fees to Tehran, even though the world for decades has considered it an international waterway.

Mr. Trump has returned to threatening to target power stations and bridges to try to compel Iran to loosen its hold on the strait. The U.S. also reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports to halt its shipments of crude oil.

A growing amount of the region’s energy is being shipped through pipelines, but not nearly enough to offset the decline in shipping.

Published – July 18, 2026 10:21 pm IST

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan al Saud and Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Iran said the Strait of Hormuz was closed once again after a warning shot fired by its military struck a vessel using an unauthorised route in the critical waterway, further jeopardising the already tenuous ceasefire agreement with the United States.

U.S. Central Command said a short time later that its forces began a third round of strikes against Iran. There were explosions in Bandar Abbas and Sirik, two towns along the shores of the strait, Iran state media reported.

“The United States is imposing a heavy cost by continuing to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the strait,” the American military said.

A Cyprus-flagged container ship was hit by Iran and suffered “significant engine room damage,” and a civilian crew member is missing, U.S. Central Command said.

Senior U.S. officials had previously said in Washington that negotiations to further cement last month’s deal to end the war would be unable to progress without the strait being secure — and even said they wanted Iran to offer public statements to that effect.

Instead, the Revolutionary Guards Corps said multiple vessels “disregarded our warnings and instructions to correct their course and proceed along the approved route.” One of them “was struck by a warning shot and brought to a stop.”

Iran said that the strait would remain closed “until further notice” and said it would consider targeting “additional enemy bases in the region” if it faced more attacks.

A little more than an hour later, the U.S. announced its own new round of strikes.

“Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay,” Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on social media.

Attacks followed more diplomatic talks about the strait

The latest flurry of shots from both sides followed Iran and Oman’s foreign ministers meeting on Saturday (July 11, 2026) to discuss the strait that lies between them, after days of Iranian attacks on ships and U.S. retaliation that dealt a blow to the interim deal to end the war.

Iran’s new supreme leader, still unseen since the war began, also 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 February 28.

Such revenge “is the will of our nation and must certainly be carried out,” Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a statement carried on state television, hours after President Donald Trump threatened more missile attacks.

Oman said it and Iran agreed to keep talking about the Strait of Hormuz “at the technical and political levels.”

Iran accuses Washington of violating ceasefire deal

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said before the new round of strikes that he met with his counterpart in Oman to discuss “appropriate mechanisms for ensuring the safe passage of ships.”

For decades, the world has considered the strait an international waterway. Iran has insisted that the strait now remain under its control and that it be allowed to charge ships moving through it, a stance it took after the war began. The U.S. urges mariners to transit on a southern route through Oman’s territorial waters.

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

Iran’s top diplomat also accused the U.S. of violating the interim deal by ending waivers allowing Iran to sell crude oil on the open market in U.S. dollars. Washington ended them in response to the attacks on ships in the strait.

“Reality check: There can only be mutual compliance,” Mr. Araghchi wrote on social media.

Trump says he responded to threats to kill him

Mr. Trump said he’s personally been the target of an Iranian plot, and he said the U.S. military would automatically retaliate if he was killed.

He wrote on social media early Saturday (July 11, 2026) that “1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat.”

However, such retaliation would have to be ordered by Vice President J.D. Vance, who would become commander-in-chief if Mr. Trump were to be killed.

Mr. Trump said he was responding to threats “to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate” him. During Khamenei’s funeral, mourners held posters or banners calling for Mr. Trump to be killed along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The U.S. President has declared the ceasefire over but said the U.S. would continue negotiations.

U.S. officials, speaking Friday (July 10, 2026) on condition of anonymity about the current situation with Iran, said the resumption of strikes even before the latest round came as a result of what they described as a rogue faction of Iranian hard-liners who were trying to sabotage the ceasefire.

Iran has insisted its theocracy is unified under the new supreme leader.

After the U.S. wrapped up strikes on Thursday (July 9, 2026), more attacks reportedly hit Iran, raising questions about who else may be targeting the Islamic Republic.

Israel didn’t claim them, meaning the Gulf Arab states may have launched them, likely as a means to deter Iran from attacking them again. Iran on Thursday (July 8, 2026) retaliated for U.S. strikes by targeting Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar.

The strikes in Iran over two days — and before the ones in the wake of the warning shot — killed at least 17 people and wounded 115 others, Iranian Health Ministry spokesperson Hossein Kermanpour said.

Published – July 12, 2026 08:08 am IST

The U.S. is demanding that Iran issue a public statement declaring the Strait of Hormuz is open, and that ships crossing the vital corridor won’t be attacked, senior U.S. officials said Friday (July 10, 2026), adding that internal power struggles in Tehran have made it difficult to reach and maintain a deal.

Also read | Iran has asked to continue talks, and the U.S. agreed, Trump says

The U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe to reporters the state of play with Iran, said the resumption of strikes this week came after what they described as a rogue faction of Iranian hard-liners trying to sabotage the ceasefire between Tehran and Washington.

It comes as U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated on social media Friday (July 10, 2026) that he views the interim ceasefire deal as “OVER!” But he said the U.S. would continue talks aimed at putting a permanent end to the war.

The officials said Friday (July 10) that Mr. Trump is giving U.S. negotiators limited time to reach a deal with Iran, but, in a sign of the challenges ahead, they underscored that the President had a wide range of options if talks fall apart. They also said a power struggle was playing out in real time in Iran after U.S. and Israeli strikes at the start of the war killed its longtime leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The U.S. is working on pressing Iran to make a public statement that the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for world energy markets, is open and free to ships to transit, the officials said.

But moments before the U.S. officials spoke, Tehran’s diplomat at the United Nations told reporters that any activity in the Strait of Hormuz, including its opening or demining operations, “rests exclusively with Iran.”

“Any attempt, by external actors, to interfere with or establish a power arrangement would violate the [interim deal], and undermine its implementation, delay the restoration of normal commercial navigation, jeopardise maritime safety, and increase regional tensions,” Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said outside the UN Security Council.

Iran has said the strait must now be under its sole control and that vessels should begin to pay fees to Tehran — even though the world for decades has considered it an international waterway. About a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed through the strait before the war began.

Iran’s grip on the strait during the conflict led to a global energy crisis, though oil prices have sharply dropped since wartime highs of $120 a barrel.

Unclaimed strikes came after US ended its attacks

No one claimed responsibility Friday for airstrikes that hit Iran after the US said it finished its attacks, leaving questions about who else may be targeting the Islamic Republic.

US Central Command spokesperson Capt Tim Hawkins said there were “no operational updates” after Trump’s pronouncement about the ceasefire.

Gulf Arab states, which Iran has targeted repeatedly since the war began February 28, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday about the strikes. Israel, which took part in the Iran war, also has not claimed any recent attacks on Iran.

The strikes Thursday, just as Iran prepared to bury the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hit areas across southern Iran. The country’s theocracy hasn’t directly blamed anyone, though one lawmaker warned the United Arab Emirates about allegedly providing support to the US campaign against Iran.

Iran responded to the strikes Thursday by launching a wider volley of attacks across the Mideast, targeting Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar. One person was reportedly hurt in Kuwait as air defence systems targeted the incoming fire across the region.

Mediators and allies regroup after strikes

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi plans to discuss the strait with his Omani counterpart at a meeting Saturday (July 11, 2026) in Oman, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told his country’s state broadcaster TRT that he believed “a solution can be reached” this weekend between Iran and Oman, which lie on opposite sides of the narrow waterway.

The leader of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, traveled to Kuwait immediately after the Iranian attack for a meeting with the small, oil-rich nation’s ruling emir. Gulf Arab countries also held calls with Qatar’s Foreign Minister. He has been deeply involved, along with Pakistan, in mediating Iran-U.S. talks.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he spoke separately on Friday (July 10) with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and with Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and stressed to both the need for restraint and diplomacy.

Israel’s government said Mr. Netanyahu spoke with Mr. Trump on Thursday (July 9, 2026) night, with Mr. Trump updating Mr. Netanyahu “on American moves in the Gulf.”

Israel Katz, Israel’s Defence Minister, also renewed threats that his nation stood ready to confront Iran if needed.

“If we will have to return, we will return with even greater force,” Mr. Katz told a military ceremony.

Iran keeps up its threats

On Friday (July 10, 2026), Iranian state media quoted Esmail Kousari, a member of the Iranian parliament’s national security committee and a former commander in the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, as warning the UAE would “pay the price for its cooperation with the United States.” He accused the Emirates of having a “behind-the-scenes” role in the recent U.S. attacks.

Meanwhile, Iran insists it must be the sole controller of the Strait of Hormuz. But the U.S. continues to urge mariners to travel on a southern route through Oman’s territorial waters to avoid Iran.

Published – July 11, 2026 07:41 am IST

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday (June 13, 2026) said a deal with Iran is scheduled to be signed on Sunday (June 14, 2026), reopening the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping, and that the U.S. would “go and get” Iran’s highly enriched uranium at a later stage even as Tehran said the talks were in their final stage but remained non-committal about any timeline for the agreement.

“The deal is scheduled to get signed tomorrow, and immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is open to all. Our relationship with Iran is a much different and better one than previous administrations have had,” Mr. Trump wrote in a social media post.

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Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi reached Tehran on Saturday (June 6, 2026) to push for peace amidst rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran, according to media reports.

It is Mr. Naqvi’s third visit to Iran in recent weeks, as Pakistan leads a diplomatic push to bring the two sides to the table.

Upon his arrival in Tehran, Mr. Naqvi was received by his Iranian counterpart Eskandar Momeni, Iran’s state-run Press TV reported.

During his visit, Mr. Naqvi will hold talks with various top officials, including Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s semi-official news agency Tasnim reported.

– PTI

U.S. President Donald Trump said Israel and Lebanon have agreed to extend a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah by three weeks after talks at the White House on Thursday (April 23, 2026).

Mr. Trump said the meeting between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States went “very well.” The meeting was the second high-level negotiation between the two countries since last week. The initial 10-day ceasefire, which took effect last Friday, had been due to expire on Monday.

“The United States is going to work with Lebanon in order to help it protect itself from Hezbollah,” Mr. Trump said in a social media post. He added that he is looking forward to meeting in person with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun “in the near future..”

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