The U.S. military said it destroyed five Iranian oil tankers on Tuesday (September 8, 2026) in response to the latest attacks on its warships, and Tehran hit back at American targets in Jordan, the latest burst of back-and-forth strikes that have lurched the sides back toward open hostilities in a more than six-month-old war.

Following the American strikes, Iran launched missiles toward U.S. targets in Jordan, Iranian state-run media said.

Jordan’s military said its air defence systems intercepted 18 ballistic missiles launched toward its territory and two others fell in places where no one lives.

It said it has no reports of casualties. Jordan is a staunch U.S. ally that hosts American forces, making the kingdom’s military bases a target of repeated Iranian strikes. U.S. Central Command said it had no information to offer.

The latest strikes are part of a dual economic and military approach by President Donald Trump as he struggles to bring an end to the war.

The Trump administration on Tuesday (September 8, 2026) also imposed sanctions on additional elements of Iran’s aviation industry, targeting more than two dozen commercial and private airlines as well as foreign cargo service providers, in its new push to isolate Tehran from its remaining trading partners.

Both the U.S. and Iran are seeking to exert control over the Strait of Hormuz, where about one-fifth of the world’s oil passed before the war began. Rising energy prices are posing political problems for Mr. Trump and his Republican Party ahead of the November midterm elections. A barrel of international standard Brent crude briefly climbed as high as $99.46 on Tuesday (September 8, 2026).

The U.S. forces also destroyed three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday (September 5, 2026) after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards tried to attack a U.S. aircraft carrier and destroyer with ballistic missiles, warning that it would, “if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet”.

Iran later said it planned to announce a new “exclusion zone” near the Strait of Hormuz aimed at vessels intending to transit.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. will not allow Iran’s attacks to go unanswered.

“Iran continues to try to hit U.S. naval ships. And for every time they do that or try to do that, they’re going to lose tankers. And I think you’ll see that again today,” Mr. Rubio told reporters on Tuesday (September 8, 2026) when asked about the latest attacks in Iran while on a trip to Colombia.

Danny Citrinowicz, an Iran expert at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, warned that such back-and-forth strikes can only risk more retaliation and further impact on the global economy.

“There is no kinetic solution to the Strait of Hormuz problem,” he said on social media. “Every attempt to impose one only brings Washington and Tehran closer to an escalation that may become increasingly difficult to control.” U.S. Central Command said the military struck the tankers on Tuesday (September 8, 2026) after the Revolutionary Guards targeted a Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice over the past two days.

“The U.S. warship successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks and continued to patrol regional waters. No American personnel were harmed,” it said in a statement.

It said the Iranian tankers destroyed on Tuesday (September 8, 2026) were the Kivik, Charminar, Horizon 1 and the Riesco in the Gulf of Oman. The U.S. military also destroyed the vessel Derya, which was located near Kharg Island in the Strait of Hormuz. The statement said the crews of the five vessels were told to abandon ship before the attacks.

Iranian state television also reported the U.S. strikes, saying U.S. forces attacked Iranian oil tankers near the southern port of Jask and near Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf. It said the crews were evacuated.

An Iranian state TV reporter in Jask said an Iranian tanker was struck near the coast of Yekbeni. State TV later reported that the U.S. military attacked a second tanker near waters off Jask. Separately, state television reported that another Iranian tanker was attacked in the Kharg Island anchorage area.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy on Tuesday (September 8, 2026) warned crews of oil tankers near ports in Kuwait and Bahrain to immediately leave their vessels, saying the ships could be targeted in retaliation for US attacks on Iranian tankers. It accused Kuwait and Bahrain of hosting US forces and assisting in the attacks.

A U.S. blockade of Iranian ports has squeezed the country’s economy by limiting its oil exports, while the American military has been helping a limited number of ships transit on a route through the Strait of Hormuz off Oman. Tehran wants ships to follow a route that it chooses through the strait, which was considered an international waterway before the war.

Iran’s Guards attacks 2 US vessels, 8 tankers, 10 ships in Gulf, Strait of Hormuz

Iran’s Revolutionary ​Guards said ‌on Wednesday (September 9, 2026) they ​attacked ⁠two U.S. vessels and eight ‌oil tankers in the ‌Gulf ‌in ⁠response ⁠to what they called a ​U.S. ‌attack on five Iranian tankers, Iranian state ‌media reported, ​citing a statement from the ⁠group.

The group said ‌it attacked 10 ships attempting to cross ‌what it described as ​a “prohibited and unsafe” ⁠area of the ⁠Strait of Hormuz.

Published – September 09, 2026 09:47 am IST

A file image of Kharg Island.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Iran has warned Gulf states that any new U.S. attack on its territory would trigger ‌retaliation against critical energy infrastructure across the region, according to five sources, as Tehran seeks to raise the cost ​of military action by threatening Washington’s closest regional allies. The warning was delivered through a flurry of high-level diplomatic contacts after ⁠U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on July 28, 2026, to strike Iran’s energy network and infrastructure, the sources said.

Two senior Iranian officials, two Gulf sources and a senior regional diplomat with knowledge of the discussions said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke with his Saudi, Turkish and Qatari counterparts, as well as Pakistan’s Army chief. ‌All spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Mr. Araghchi urged Washington’s Gulf allies to use their influence with Mr. Trump to dissuade him from launching renewed strikes, the senior diplomat said, warning that any attack on Iran would ‌prompt retaliation against U.S. assets and energy facilities across the Gulf.

His message was consistent in every conversation, the diplomat said: “We’re ready to ‌retaliate, ⁠but finding a diplomatic solution is the best way to avoid wider escalation and destruction across the region.”

“The Iranian ⁠warning was unequivocal: if America targeted Iran’s infrastructure, they would retaliate by striking Gulf energy facilities and other regional targets,” one Gulf source said. The diplomatic manoeuvering underscores how Iran is attempting to use the threat of wider regional destruction as leverage against further U.S. strikes, putting Gulf states that host U.S. military bases and depend on energy exports in ​a difficult position between Washington and Tehran.

Saudi Crown Prince spoke to Trump

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed ‌bin Salman subsequently spoke with Mr. Trump, urging him to delay military action, return to negotiations, secure a ceasefire and pursue a diplomatic settlement, the senior diplomat and Gulf sources said.

The warning was intended for every Gulf state, another Gulf source said, but was conveyed primarily through Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Iran has in recent years repaired ties with its Gulf neighbours, including former regional rival Saudi ‌Arabia.

Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia have all urged Washington to resume talks with Tehran and avert renewed conflict amid Iranian warnings ​that another round of U.S. strikes could “turn the region into a fireball”, the second Iranian official said. On August 2, Mr. Trump said he agreed to cancel the attack on Iran “subject to being able to rapidly make a ⁠deal”.

Threats of wider regional escalation, says Iranian official

“Saudi Arabia believes further escalation will only bring more destruction,” the first Gulf source said. “That is why it urged Trump to give diplomacy a chance.”

While urging Washington to pursue diplomacy, Riyadh also made clear it would defend itself if threatened. The ‌second Gulf source said Saudi Arabia warned that any attack on its territory would be met with a military response.

Ali Shihabi, a Saudi analyst close to the Royal Court, said the kingdom’s assessment is that further escalation is unlikely to achieve the desired result. “The Kingdom believes a combination of proportionate military responses and sustained pressure on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz offers the strongest path toward a practical diplomatic settlement,” Mr. Shihabi said.

Iran’s clerical leadership has repeatedly demanded the closure of U.S. military bases in the Gulf and called on Gulf Arab states to stop sharing intelligence with Washington, which Tehran believes has been used to facilitate attacks against it.

According to one Iranian official, Tehran’s warning made clear that ‌any new U.S. strike would be met with attacks on energy facilities, refineries, electricity grids, water infrastructure, transport networks and oil fields across the Gulf.

“The enemy continues to ​threaten Iranian infrastructure. If Iran suffers damage, it will inflict far greater damage in return,” the official said. “They still remember Saudi Arabia’s Aramco,” he added, referring to the September 2019 drone and missile attacks on the Abqaiq and Khurais ⁠facilities that temporarily knocked out more than half the kingdom’s crude oil production and exposed the vulnerability of Gulf energy infrastructure.

By threatening infrastructure critical ⁠to Gulf economies, Tehran is seeking to convince both Washington and its Arab partners that another attack on Iran would carry unacceptable economic and strategic consequences, encouraging regional states to press Mr. Trump to avoid renewed military action.

From Tehran’s perspective, Mr. Trump now faces two ‌unpalatable choices, the senior Iranian official said: escalate a conflict that could engulf the Gulf and disrupt global energy supplies, or accept a negotiated outcome that falls short of the decisive victory Washington seeks.

One of the principal obstacles to an agreement, the senior regional diplomat ​said, is Washington’s reluctance to allow Tehran to emerge claiming victory.

“The United States wants something it can present as proof that it won the war,” the diplomat said.

Published – August 06, 2026 03:46 pm IST

The U.S. military said on Sunday (July 19, 2026) that it launched new airstrikes against Iran to “swiftly punish” the country’s Revolutionary Guard for an attack in Jordan that killed two American service members, left one missing and four requiring hospitalisation.

The strikes were designed to further degrade Iran’s ability to restrict the traffic of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Central Command said. The waterway accounted for roughly 20% of global oil supplies before the war.

An area near Sirik, on the Strait of Hormuz, was targeted around 1:30 a.m. local time, according to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, which cited local authorities in southern Hormozgan province.

The new strikes came after the U.S. military announced its first troop deaths from direct Iranian fire since the opening days of the war, following a drone and missile attack on a base in Jordan on Friday (July 17, 2026). The dead were not identified, and Central Command wouldn’t offer any further details on the deaths.

Since the war began, 16 U.S. service members have been killed and over 430 wounded.

Strikes reported in Iraq

In neighbouring Iraq, a base of the Kurdistan Freedom Party, an Iranian Kurdish dissident group, near Irbil was struck by a drone early on Sunday (July 19, 2026), wounding eight of its members, according to Rebaz Sharifi, a military official with the group.

Residents of Irbil, the capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region, also heard explosions from air defenses early Sunday (July 19, 2026).

Irbil has been targeted by drone attacks multiple times over the past four days, which coincided with a visit by new Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi to Washington last week and an ongoing escalation between the U.S. and Iran.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but in the past both Iran and Iran-backed Iraqi militias have launched attacks in the Kurdish region, where both U.S. troops and armed Kurdish Iranian dissident groups are present.

Iran’s supreme leader warns of unforgettable lessons

Minutes before the U.S. announced the troop deaths earlier Saturday (July 18, 2026), Iran’s supreme leader warned of “unforgettable lessons” if the U.S. keeps attacking the Islamic Republic.

The remarks read out on state TV and attributed to Mojtaba Khamenei, still unseen since the war began, also called President Donald Trump’s signature “worthless and invalid.” An Iranian negotiator said Tehran was suspending its commitments to the interim deal signed about a month ago and aimed at permanently ending the fighting.

Tehran’s declarations snapped another fragile thread as the war shows no end in sight. Now Mr. Khamenei warns of “lessons” not only from Iran but also from its armed proxies in the region, calling them the “Axis of Resistance.” The U.S. issued a global travel alert over the rising tensions.

The battle has focused on control of the Strait of Hormuz. The widening strikes now threaten civilians and infrastructure, including desalination plants for drinking water, while the global economy again is on alert.

The U.S. has violated its commitments under the deal and now Iran is “no longer implementing them,” Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, told state TV.

There was no new word on mediation efforts.

US soldiers face growing risks

The previously recorded death of a U.S. service member was that of a helicopter pilot who was killed when the helicopter crashed in the Arabian Sea earlier this month. Early in the war, an Iranian drone strike on a command centre in Kuwait killed six soldiers. One soldier died after an attack on a base in Saudi Arabia. Six were killed when a refueling aircraft crashed in Iraq.

On Saturday (July 18, 2026), the most significant damage from Iranian strikes occurred in Kuwait, where a water desalination plant and an oil facility were hit, according to the Kuwait authorities and the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. Both declined to provide locations.

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. The strikes injured several people at the oil facility and caused a fire at the desalination plant, forcing several power generation units offline.

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.

Meanwhile, 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.

The secretary general of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi, accused Iran of war crimes for strikes on infrastructure and civilian facilities.

Published – July 19, 2026 07:23 am IST

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday blamed Iran for carrying out a drone strike on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, calling it a “foolish violation” of the ceasefire agreement with the United States. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. Central Command said the strikes would be “a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression”. Photo credit:X/CENTCOM

U.S. Central Command said the strikes would be “a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression”. Photo credit:X/CENTCOM

Emergency personnel work at the site of damage after a barrage of Iranian missiles was launched at Israel, amid the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, in Petah Tikva, Israel, on April 2, 2026.
| Photo Credit:
Reuters

Iran and its allies traded fire with Israel and the United States, as Washington-linked assets across the West Asia were targeted alongside energy and civilian infrastructure — with the month-long war on Friday (April 3, 2026) showing little sign of easing. Strikes have increasingly targeted economic and industrial sites, raising fears of wider disruption to global energy supplies and deepening the conflict’s impact beyond the battlefield.

Also read: Foreign Secretary participates in U.K. meet on opening Hormuz

Iran said targets included “American steel industries in Abu Dhabi, American aluminium industries in Bahrain, and the Rafael arms factories of the Zionist regime”. Yemen’s Houthi rebels announced a fourth missile attack targeting Israel on Thursday (April 2, 2026), after stepping into the West Asia war in support of their ally Iran last week.

Also read: What Trump’s speech says about his war on Iran | Analysis

The UN Security Council has scheduled a vote at 11 a.m. EDT Friday (April 3, 2026) on a Bahrain-sponsored resolution authorising use of defensive means — but not offensive — to secure international navigation in the Strait of Hormuz which has been mostly blocked by Iran.

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People hold posters of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a funeral ceremony for a group of security forces, who were killed during anti-government protests, in Tehran, Iran. File
| Photo Credit: AP