Closing summary<\/p>\n
We are closing our live coverage of developments in the Middle East \u2013 you can read our latest report here<\/a>. Here is a quick recap of the latest.<\/p>\n The United States and Iran each asserted Monday they controlled the strait of Hormuz after a weekend of attacks stretching across the wider Middle East, further threatening any diplomacy to end the war.<\/p>\n The attacks were sparked by Iran striking a container ship in the strait off the coast of Oman.<\/p>\n The US military\u2019s Centcom described its forces as hitting dozens of sites in the strikes Monday, including air defense systems, radar sites, missile and drone equipment and small boats. \u201cThe Strait of Hormuz<\/a> is a vital maritime corridor for global trade,\u201d Central Command said. \u201cIran does not control it.\u201d<\/p>\n The US military early Sunday said it hit some 140 targets, including missile and drone launch sites, ammunition dumps, communication equipment and other sites \u2014 a far-heavier set of attacks than in two previous rounds of strikes in the last week. \u201cWe bombed the hell out of them last night,\u201d U.S. President Donald Trump told NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press.\u201d<\/p>\n 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 traveling through it. Iranian attacks on Sunday stretched Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and even Oman \u2014 whose territorial waters with Iran make up the strait. Oman, which long has been an interlocutor between Tehran and the West, summoned an Iranian diplomat to criticise the attack.<\/p>\n \u201cThe era of one-sided deals is OVER,\u201d Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran\u2019s parliament and a main negotiator, wrote. \u201cWe told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking.\u201d<\/p>\n Iran and the US are nearly at the midway point of the 60-day period of an interim deal that was supposed to set-up talks for a permanent end to the war. Instead, it has devolved into a series of attacks over the strait and its future. President Donald Trump suggested last week that the interim deal in the war was \u201cover.\u201d But mediators, including Pakistan, Qatar and Egypt, have continued efforts to reach a final agreement to end the war.<\/p>\n \u201cA return to full-scale hostilities would have catastrophic consequences,\u201d United Nations Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres said in a statement.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a000.39 EDT<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Kuwait\u2019s army says it is engaging \u201chostile aerial targets\u201d in Kuwaiti airspace after Iran\u2019s IRGC claimed it had attacked US military bases.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Iran\u2019s IRGC is now also claiming that it has attacked US military bases in Kuwait.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, sirens are sounding for a second time today in Bahrain.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Iran\u2019s IRGC also claims it has hit a US base at Sheikh Isa in Bahrain in the second phase of retaliatory operation. The Guardian could not immediately confirm this claim.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Centcom said it struck Iranian military air-defense systems, coastal \u200cradar sites, missile and \u200bdrone capabilities, and small boats using US \u2060fighter aircraft, \u200bnaval vessels, one-way \u200battack aerial \u200bdrones, \u200band \u200cone-way attack \u200bsea drones in its latest wave of attacks.<\/p>\n double quotation markThe Strait of Hormuz is a vital maritime corridor for global trade,\u201d Centcom said. \u201cIran does not control it.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a022.48 EDT<\/p>\n Centcom completes latest round of strikes<\/p>\n Centcom says it has completed a new wave of offensive strikes against Iran<\/a>, hitting dozens of targets at multiple locations with precision munitions.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>IRGC claims it has set fuel tanks, ammunition tanks on fire in Jordan<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had set fuel tanks and ammunition depots on fire at Prince Hassan airbase in Jordan by firing missiles and drones. The Guardian could immediately verify the IRGC\u2019s claim.<\/p>\n The IRGC said the strike was the first phase of response to US attacks on Iranian coastal bases and its retaliatory operation was continuing.<\/p>\n The Jordanian military later said that it intercepted and shot down four missiles that entered airspace from Iran, according to its state news agency.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a000.20 EDT<\/p>\n Bahrain\u2019s interior ministry instructed residents to take shelter after attacks on the island nation as Iran<\/a> targets US interests in the Gulf.<\/p>\n double quotation markThe siren has been sounded… citizens and residents are urged to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place,\u201d the ministry posted on X.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Sirens in Bahrain<\/p>\n Sirens have sounded in Bahrain, according to the country\u2019s interior ministry.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll bring you more as it comes in.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n A comment on the reported fatality in South-western Iran:<\/p>\n double quotation markFollowing the attack of the American enemy on Monday morning… one person was martyred and four others were injured,\u201d official news agency IRNA reported, citing Khuzestan province\u2019s deputy governor for security and law enforcement, Valiollah Hayati.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n One person has been killed and four wounded in a US strike on a water pumping station in Iran\u2019s mahshahr, Iranian state media Irna news is reporting.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Oil prices opened sharply higher on Monday after the United States launched a wave of attacks on Iran and as Tehran announced it would close the strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n A barrel of international benchmark Brent crude for September delivery rose 3.75% to $78.86 at around 2210 GMT on Sunday.<\/p>\n US benchmark West Texas Intermediate rose 3.65% to $74.02 per barrel for August delivery.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Strikes over the weekend have had wider regional implications. <\/p>\n Qatar, which has previously \u200bsaid it would not act as a mediator so long \u200bas it was under attack, said three people, including a child, had been injured by falling shrapnel. It said Iran<\/a> was \u201cfully legally responsible\u201d for the attack.<\/p>\n The UAE said it detected missile threats outside its borders, while Bahrain said it intercepted several Iranian aerial attacks, Jordan reported missile strikes and Oman reported being targeted with drones. Kuwait\u2019s army later reported damage from strikes, and said an attack on an oil drilling platform injured a worker.<\/p>\n Oman said it had summoned Iran\u2019s ambassador to protest over drone attacks in two regions and the US embassy in Oman told its nationals in Duqm and Musandam to shelter in place.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Iran\u2019s foreign ministry has condemned \u201caggressive\u201d US attacks against Iran.<\/p>\n In a statement, the ministry also said talks between Iran and Oman on Saturday in Muscat \u2014 focused on arrangements for managing the strait and transit \u200croutes \u2014 were unable to reach a result because of \u201covert and covert\u201d US pressure on Oman.<\/p>\n In the past week, Trump has said he considers the ceasefire over, while leaving the door open to more talks.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s top negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, posted on X on Sunday.<\/p>\n double quotation markThe era of one-sided deals is OVER. We told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The renewed fighting followed an Iranian attack early Sunday on a commercial ship in the strait of Hormuz, whose crew was forced to abandon it after it went up in flames.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards said after the incident that \u201cthe Strait of Hormuz<\/a> will be closed until further notice and until the end of American interventions in this region,\u201d according to state news agency IRNA.<\/p>\n CENTCOM countered on X that the strait was \u201copen to all vessels seeking to lawfully transit.\u201d<\/p>\n It said US forces were \u201cpositioned and prepared to ensure\u201d freedom of navigation, adding: \u201cIran does not control the strait. Traffic is flowing.\u201d<\/p>\n Control of the waterway has become key leverage for Iran, with an adviser to the country\u2019s supreme leader on Sunday saying it was more important than \u201cdozens of atomic bombs\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The latest salvo by US forces began at 2100 GMT on Sunday, Central Command (CENCTOM) said on X, after earlier announcing approximately 140 strikes the previous night.<\/p>\n On Sunday evening, Iranian state media reported at least 10 \u201cenemy projectiles\u201d hitting Qeshm Island, which sits on the strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n It also reported strikes on the island of Farur, to the east of Qeshm in the Gulf, that it said killed a telecommunications worker and wounded two others.<\/p>\n Shortly after, Kuwait said three of its land border posts in the north were damaged in an attack, and that an offshore drilling platform \u201cwas targeted by a hostile drone,\u201d with one person injured.<\/p>\n Tehran said it had targeted two ships in Hormuz early Sunday, including the one that caught fire. Iran\u2019s Guards said they also hit Oman, which has rarely been targeted.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Opening summary<\/p>\n