The U.S. military said it has launched another round of strikes against Iran “to degrade their ability to attack commercial ships freely transiting the Strait of Hormuz.” The strikes, which took place overnight and into early Monday (July 13, 2026) in Iran, came after attacks by the military on Sunday morning in response to an Iranian strike on a container ship in the critical waterway the day before.

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 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.

A U.S. official said a few strikes were conducted on missile and air defence systems and paramilitary Revolutionary Guard boats at a couple of locations to further degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to publicly discuss military operations.

Iran and the U.S. are nearly at the midway point of the 60 days 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.

Heavier attacks

The attacks by the U.S. 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.

“We bombed the hell out of them last night,” President Donald Trump told NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’.

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

Oman summons Iranian envoy to protest attack

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 US 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.

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.”

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday (June 17, 2026) that an interim accord with Iran was not final and that he could resume a bombing campaign if he did not like it or if Tehran did not “behave”.

Also read: West Asia war updates on June 17, 2026

“It’s a memorandum of understanding. And if I don’t like it, we’ll go back to shooting at them, dropping bombs on their heads. If I don’t like it, if they don’t behave, we’ll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head, OK?” Mr. Trump said on the sidelines of a G7 summit in France.

Mr. Trump said the Iran memorandum of understanding did not include immediate sanctions relief for Iran.

Mr. Trump heaped praise on the framework agreement that his administration had negotiated, saying, “That’s a very strong deal. Nobody knows what it is, but it’s very strong, and most people seem to be very happy.”

He said the agreement would be a boon for markets.

“There’s nothing so smart as the market, and the market loves it beyond anything that I’ve actually seen,” he said, adding: “The alternative would be a worldwide depression.”

Oil prices were near a three-month low on Wednesday, with Mr. Trump predicting further decreases: “I think oil prices might get lower than where they were before the war.”

‘Minor war’

Mr. Trump also said that he had spoken to Syria’s leader about combatting Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, a day after criticising Israel for killing too many civilians and not getting the job done.

“I consider that (Lebanon) the minor war; Iran’s a big one, but we have that little pinprick out there that constantly rears its head, and that’s Hezbollah,” Mr. Trump told presspersons on Tuesday.

Mr. Trump has strongly backed Mr. Sharaa, a former al-Qaeda commander who toppled long-ruling autocrat Bashar al-Assad and has sought to portray himself as a moderate leader trying to unify his war-ravaged nation and end its isolation.

Overnight exchanges of fire between Iran and ​Israel will only worsen an already “chaotic diplomatic ‌process” with the United States, ​Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson ⁠Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday (June 8, 2026), adding that Tehran was exchanging messages with Washington ‌in an atmosphere of “extreme suspicion”.

Mr. Baghaei said Israel’s actions in Lebanon, ‌whether carried out with U.S. knowledge ‌and ⁠consent or not, were ⁠aimed at sabotaging diplomacy. He said Washington, as a party to the April 8 ceasefire, ​bore direct ‌responsibility for any violations, including attacks attributed to Israel, and he added that the world should be concerned ‌about a broader regional conflict.

“The ​United States bears direct responsibility for any action the Zionist ⁠regime (Israel) takes in relation to violating regional peace and security against Iran,” ‌Mr. Baghaei said.

He said the visit of Pakistan’s Interior Minister to Tehran on Sunday (June 7, 2026) was part of efforts to continue indirect exchanges with Washington. Separately, Baghaei said Iran would ‌respond to any resolution against it at ​this week’s meeting of the U.N. nuclear watchdog’s Board of ⁠Governors.

He accused International Atomic Energy Agency ⁠chief Rafael Grossi of disregarding the realities of the conflict ‌and holding biased political views that harmed the agency’s legitimacy. 

Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir has concluded his three-day visit to Iran as part of Islamabad’s efforts to resolve the conflict between the U.S. and Iran.

Mr. Munir, who was heading a high-level delegation to Iran, landed in Tehran on Wednesday (April 15, 2026), becoming the first foreign military leader to visit the country since a two-week ceasefire was agreed between Iran and the U.S. on April 8.

U.S. President Donald Trump ​said there had been “some pretty good news” about Iran, suggesting optimism about peace talks to end the war in West Asia, but he said a ceasefire in the conflict may not ‌be extended without a deal by Wednesday (April 22, 2026).

Iran, hours earlier, had temporarily reopened the Strait of Hormuz following a separate U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement ​by Israel and Lebanon. But subsequent statements from both sides left uncertainty over how quickly shipping might return to normal through the global oil ⁠choke point.

Three Indonesian peacekeepers killed in two separate explosions in southern Lebanon last week were laid to rest in their hometowns on Sunday (April 5, 2026).

Iran-Israel war LIVE on April 5, 2026

Peacekeeper Farizal Rhomadhon, 28, died when a projectile exploded on March 29 in southern Lebanon, where Israel and Hezbollah have been fighting since Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war.

Two other blue helmets, Zulmi Aditya Iskandar, 33, and Muhammad Nur Ichwan, 26, died a day later when an explosion struck a logistics convoy of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), also in southern Lebanon.

The deadly incidents sparked calls from Indonesian authorities for an investigation and security guarantees for peacekeeping forces.

The soldiers were buried on Sunday (April 5, 2026) in coffins draped in the Indonesian flag during military funerals with gun salutes.

Weeping family members scattered flower petals on their graves.

Zulmi was buried in a military cemetery in his hometown in Bandung, West Java, while Ichwan and Farizal were laid to rest in their respective hometowns in Central Java and Yogyakarta.

“I’m letting him go proudly. I accept it sincerely, even though it is not what I had hoped as a parent,” Zulmi’s father Iskandarudin told reporters after the funeral.

“I am certain that he’s waiting for me in heaven.”

Agus Subiyanto, the commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces, told reporters that every fallen soldier will receive compensation in recognition of their service.

“We have prepared all the rights and entitlements that must be given to the fallen soldiers. Among these is compensation from the United Nations,” Mr. Agus said after attending Zulmi’s funeral.

The bodies of the three peacekeepers arrived in Jakarta on Saturday (April 4, 2026), received with honours in a ceremony attended by President Prabowo Subianto.

Mr. Prabowo said on Instagram that Indonesians “strongly condemn every heinous act that undermines peace and causes the deaths of our nation’s soldiers”.

Less than a week after the explosions that killed the three peacekeepers, another blast took place at a UN facility near El Adeisse on Friday (April 3, 2026), injuring three more Indonesian blue helmets.

Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry called the attacks “unacceptable” and urged the UN Security Council “to immediately convene a meeting of troop-contributing countries to UNIFIL to conduct a review and take measures to enhance the protection of personnel serving with UNIFIL”.

Foreign Minister Sugiono, who like many Indonesians only has one name, told reporters on Saturday (April 4, 2026) that Indonesia wanted a thorough UN investigation, and demanded better security guarantees for peacekeeping soldiers.

The United States is weighing sending up to 10,000 extra troops to West Asia, U.S. media reported on Friday (March 27, 2026), as speculation grows that Washington may be preparing a ground operation in Iran.

The deployment would mark a significant boost to Washington’s military presence in the region, despite U.S. President Donald Trump insisting that Tehran was taking part in peace talks with Washington to end the war.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the move would aim to provide Mr. Trump with “more military options” in West Asia, engulfed by war since U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.

The troops would join thousands of paratroopers and Marines who have already been ordered to the region.

An Iranian official said on Wednesday (March 26, 2026) that Tehran would retaliate to a ground invasion of its territory by Washington by activating its Houthi rebels in Yemen to attack shipping in the Red Sea.

That would open up a new front in a war of spiralling economic, political and military repercussions.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly said he does not plan to send ground troops into combat with Iran.

“It is unclear where precisely forces will go in the Middle East, but they will likely be within striking distance of Iran and Kharg Island, a crucial oil export hub off Iran’s coast,” the Journal said.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to AFP‘s request for comment.

Mr. Trump has pushed back his deadline for strikes on Iran’s energy assets, assuring that talks on ending the war were “going very well.”

Israel’s military, meanwhile, said early Friday (March 27, 2026) that it carried out “a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime in the heart of Tehran”.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned on Wednesday (March 25, 2026) that the Middle East war presented a “far worse” scenario than the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

“This is not the same scenario as the illegal war in Iraq. We are facing something far worse. Much worse. With a potential impact that is far broader and far deeper,” he told parliament.

Also Read: Israel-Iran war LIVE

“This time, it’s an absurd and illegal war. A cruel one that sets us back from achieving our economic, social, and environmental goals,” he said.

The Socialist premier has refused Washington’s requests to use Madrid’s military bases against Iran, despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to sever trade with Spain as a result.

Mr. Sanchez said the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 had failed to achieve its goals and instead made life worse for ordinary people, saying it led to a sharp increase in fuel and grocery prices, a migration crisis and jihadist attacks in Europe.

He warned that the attacks on Iran could have a similar economic impact for millions.

“Every bomb that falls in the Middle East eventually hits — as we are already seeing — the wallets of our families,” Mr. Sanchez said.

His government approved last week a sweeping package worth five billion euros ($5.8 billion) aimed at cushioning the economic impact of the Middle East war, which included reductions on taxes on fuel.

“It is not fair that some set the world on fire while others bear the ashes. It is not right that Spaniards and other Europeans should pay out of their own pockets for this illegal war,” Mr. Sanchez said.

His Iraq reference may strike a chord with Spanish voters.

Support for that war by the conservative Popular Party (PP) in power at the time which sent troops to Iraq was widely unpopular and sparked mass protests.

Some analysts say it paved the way for the Socialist Party’s surprise win in March 2004, days after deadly jihadist bombings hit Madrid.

A branch of Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attacks and called for the withdrawal of Spanish forces from Iraq.

A majority of Spaniards, 53.2%, back Mr. Sanchez’s decision not to let the United States use the Rota naval base and Moron airbase in strikes against Iran, a poll published earlier this month in daily newspaper El Pais showed.