US and Iran Exchange Strikes Following Incident in the Strait of Hormuz

Associated Press, July 12, 2026, Dubai : The United States attacked Iran early Sunday morning over an Iranian strike on a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz that set the container ship ablaze and forced its crew to abandon it.

Iran responded with attacks targeting several countries in the Middle East, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Jordan.

The burst of fighting raised new questions about efforts to reach a permanent end to a war that began on Feb. 28.

The strait, a key transit route for oil and natural gas, has become the key sticking point in negotiations, and repeated fighting over the past week has left negotiations in danger of collapse.

The US military's Central Command said it hit some 140 targets in Sunday's strikes and went after missile and drone launch sites, ammunition dumps, communication equipment and other sites.

It said the attacks, heavier than previous attacks in recent days, would weaken Iran's ability to threaten civilian shipping.

“Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay,” US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote online.

Semi-official Iranian news agencies reported that a navy officer was killed by the early morning attack.

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.

“The era of one-sided deals is OVER,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran's parliament and a main negotiator, wrote Sunday. “We told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking.”

Iran and the US agreed to an interim ceasefire on June 17, beginning a 60-day period aimed at reaching a permanent end to the war, which US President Donald Trump declared “over” three days ago.

Negotiations have been repeatedly disrupted by violence.

The US has launched three rounds of airstrikes targeting Iran in the last week over Iranian attacks on ships heading through the strait using a route seeking to avoid the Islamic Republic'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 USD 120 a barrel.

Missile alerts sounded across several Gulf Arab countries early Sunday morning.

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 as a result of falling shrapnel from the interception of Iranian attacks, Qatar's Interior Ministry said, giving no further details on their conditions.

Meanwhile, missile alerts sounded in Bahrain, an island kingdom in the Persian Gulf home to the US Navy's 5th Fleet.

Kuwait's military also said it was intercepting incoming fire.

The Omani state news agency said drones struck sites in an area that sits on the Strait of Hormuz and issued a shelter-in-place warning for residents in the region.

The attack came after the two countries held talks on Saturday.

Oman summoned the Iranian ambassador to protest the strikes.

Three Iranian missiles struck areas across Jordan, causing minor damage but no injuries, Jordan's state news agency reported.

Sirens also sounded in the United Arab Emirates, but the government said missiles did not cross into UAE borders.

The UAE so far hasn't been targeted in the most recent round of Iranian attacks.