US military says it is striking Iran in response to attack on civilian vessel

The United States attacked Iran early on 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 apparently responded with attacks targeting Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

The strait has become the key sticking point in any further negotiations between Iran and the United States to find a permanent end to the war that began back on February 28.

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 120 dollars (£89) a barrel.

The US military’s Central Command said it hit some 140 targets in the strikes, far more than the last two rounds and went after missile and drone launch sites, ammunition dumps, communication equipment and other sites.

The attacks “degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial vessels freely transiting the strait,” it said.

The new crossfire in the Persian Gulf comes days after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested an interim deal in the Iran war was “over.”

US defense secretary Pete Hegseth wrote online: “Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay.”

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) warned the public on Sunday of an incoming missile and drone attack, as explosions could be heard in nearby Qatar.

A missile alert sounded in Qatar shortly after the blasts. Qatar’s military said in a statement that it intercepted the incoming Iranian fire.

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

It was not immediately clear what locations were under attack in the UAE, which so far hadn’t been targeted in the latest round of attacks by Iran.

The latest attack on the Emirates, home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, came in May when a drone sparked a fire on the edge of the country’s sole nuclear power plant.

In the Strait of Hormuz attack, a Cyprus-flagged container ship was hit by Iran and suffered “significant engineroom damage” and a civilian crew member is missing, US Central Command said.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre, overseen by the British military, said the ship had been travelling in a route hugging the shoreline of Oman.

That has been the way ships have gotten in and out of the Persian Gulf while avoiding Iranian territorial waters.

The ship’s crew abandoned the vessel as it was ablaze, the centre said.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said multiple vessels “disregarded our warnings and instructions to correct their course and proceed along the approved route”.

One of them “was struck by a warning shot and brought to a stop”.

Iran said that the strait would remain closed “until further notice” and said it would consider targeting “additional enemy bases in the region” if it faced more attacks.

The US attacks on Iran apparently targeted Bandar Abbas and Sirik, as well as other areas, along the shores of the strait, Iran state media reported.