{"id":695076,"date":"2026-07-16T15:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T15:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/695076\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T15:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T15:52:09","slug":"us-intensifies-attacks-on-iran-as-tehran-hits-back-at-gulf-states-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/695076\/","title":{"rendered":"US intensifies attacks on Iran as Tehran hits back at Gulf states | Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US has intensified its attacks on Iran<\/a>, hitting targets near Tehran and striking a ship it accused of trying to break its blockade, while Iran retaliated by firing missiles and drones at US allies in the region.<\/p>\n

Six consecutive days of back-and-forth attacks threaten to pull the region back into a total war and cast serious doubt about an interim deal reached last month meant to achieve a permanent peace.<\/p>\n

The attacks have been accompanied by escalating rhetoric from both sides<\/a>, as the US enforced its naval blockade and Iran said it had shut the strait of Hormuz, which before the conflict handled about a fifth of global oil and gas exports.<\/p>\n

Iran asked its allies in Yemen, the Houthis, to be prepared to close the oil route through the Red Sea if the US targeted Iranian energy infrastructure, Reuters reported \u2013 a threat that, if followed through, could paralyse the global energy market.<\/p>\n

The US launched its latest wave of strikes on Iran early on Thursday, hitting areas around Tehran for the first time in the current round of fighting, as well as striking other provinces, Iranian state media reported. The US also said it fired on a tanker sailing towards Kharg island, Iran\u2019s biggest oil export terminal<\/a>. US Central Command said it fired a Hellfire missile at the ship after it \u201cignored multiple warnings\u201d.<\/p>\n

An image from US Central Command shows an attack on an unknown location in Iran. Photograph: US Central Command\/Reuters<\/p>\n

US attacks had killed more than 35 people and wounded more than 300 others in recent days, Iranian authorities said.<\/p>\n

Tehran accused the US of carrying out a \u201cbarbaric attack\u201d after a cancer hospital in south-west Iran was evacuated because of strikes nearby.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis barbaric attack, reminiscent of Israel\u2019s atrocities against healthcare facilities, caused severe suffering and anxiety upon the hospitalised children,\u201d Iran\u2019s foreign ministry spokesperson said on X. Esmaeil Baghaei added that \u201c211 patients undergoing chemotherapy\u201d were evacuated.<\/p>\n

Another image released by the US military shows a missile being launched at Iran. Photograph: US Central Command\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Iran responded on Thursday with missiles and drones targeting Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait, which host US bases. Iraq\u2019s prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi, also said there was an overnight drone attack on the city of Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. The attack, which was intercepted, came as al-Zaidi pledged during a trip to the US to disarm non-state armed groups.<\/p>\n

Iraqi authorities also briefly suspended crude oil loading at all of its terminals on Thursday after a drone crashed into an oil tanker in Basra without causing damage, Reuters reported. Crude oil loading resumed later in the day.<\/p>\n

Iran warned that it could expand its attacks in the region in response to comments from Donald Trump<\/a>, the US president, that he could attack power plants, bridges and a nuclear facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the infrastructure in the region will be crushed under the steel blows of the powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran,\u201d said Col Ebrahim Zolfaghari, an Iranian military spokesperson. \u201cUnder no circumstances and in no way will we allow America, as a foreign and extra-regional country, to interfere in the strait. This is Iran\u2019s inviolable red line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zolfaghari said the only way to reopen the strait was for the US to follow the 14-point Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed last month<\/a>, as well to abide by \u201cIranian regulations\u201d for transiting ships.<\/p>\n

A map of the strait of Hormuz<\/a><\/p>\n

Much of the latest fighting has focused on the strait, as Iran and the US fight for the future of the critical waterway.<\/p>\n

The MoU signed last month said the strait should remain open for the 60-day period of the interim deal. However, the two sides interpret the MoU differently, with both sides insisting that ships transit the strait via their own separately designated lanes.<\/p>\n

The strait was all but closed by Iran after the start of the war, sending global energy prices and inflation soaring. Trump is keen to have the strait reopened <\/a>because higher energy prices could harm Republican candidates in autumn\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n

Fewer vessels went through the strait on Wednesday after the US blockade was reimposed and fighting continued, shipping data showed. Nine ships, mostly on the Iranian-provided route, not the US one, navigated the strait as opposed to 13 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

India, one of the largest contributors of sailors to merchant vessels worldwide, told shipowners and recruitment companies not to send Indian sailors on ships heading for the strait.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere should be no deployment of Indian seafarers on vessels undertaking voyages involving passage through the strait of Hormuz until further orders,\u201d India\u2019s directorate general of maritime administration said in a statement on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Images of Donald Trump and his family on top of US flag-draped coffins at Palestine Square in Tehran. Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh\/EPA<\/p>\n

The price of oil has increased to about $85 a barrel \u2013 the highest price in a month, but still below the peak of $120 during the war. Analysts said that continued disruptions to shipping in the strait could see oil prices increase further, reaching as high as $100 a barrel.<\/p>\n

The US has threatened that it could open the strait by force, but experts have said that such an operation would need thousands of ground troops.<\/p>\n

Trump has continued to insist that Iran was ready to make a peace deal, though Iranian officials have said they will not bow to military pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t like what we\u2019re doing, and they do want to settle. We\u2019ll find out whether or not we settle with them, or we just finish it off,\u201d Trump said on Wednesday during a speech at the US army\u2019s war college.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s statements conflicted with those of Iranian officials, with Iran\u2019s top negotiator and speaker of parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, saying in a statement that \u201cwe are in an essential and existential war with America\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mediators have tried to calm the escalating tensions with little success. Pakistan\u2019s foreign minister said on Thursday that the country was trying to bring Washington and Tehran back to the table, but that it was becoming increasingly difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever the parties exhaust the logic of escalation, the formula for peace is there,\u201d the foreign ministry spokesperson, Tahir Andrabi, said at a news conference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The US has intensified its attacks on Iran, hitting targets near Tehran and striking a ship it accused…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":695077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-695076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=695076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/695077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=695076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=695076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=695076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}