A projectile is fired during what the US Central Command said were strikes on Iran, in this screen grab taken from a handout video released on July 12, 2026. — Reuters Listen to article 1x 1.2x 1.5x comments Join our Whatsapp Channel Add Dawn as a trusted source The United States struck Iran on Monday for a second day running, drawing Tehran’s reprisals against US allies in the Gulf as the foes battle over the status of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The flare-up is the latest to undermine an interim agreement between Washington and Tehran aimed at ending their war, which has caused global economic shockwaves since it began in late February.
The latest salvo by US forces began at 2100 GMT on Sunday, Central Command (Centcom) said on X. The fresh strikes came less than 24 hours after a previous wave in which the US Centcom said 140 Iranian military targets were hit.
In a subsequent post, Centcom said it had completed a new wave of “offensive strikes” against Iran, hitting “dozens of targets at multiple locations with precision munitions to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking international shipping flowing through the Strait of Hormuz”.
“Centcom forces struck Iranian military air-defence systems, coastal radar sites, missile and drone capabilities, and small boats using US fighter aircraft, naval vessels, one-way attack aerial drones, and one-way attack sea drones for the first time,” it added.
The Centcom reiterated its assertion that Iran did not control Hormuz and US forces “are postured and prepared to ensure that freedom of navigation remains available to commercial shipping despite Iran’s continued unwarranted aggression, harassment, threats, and arbitrary declarations”.
Iranian state media reported that the latest US strikes targeted large areas across southern and western Iran, including Qeshm island and Bandar Abbas near the Strait of Hormuz, and in Khuzestan province bordering Iraq.
An Iranian official says the US strikes hit an agricultural water pumping station in Mahshahr city in southwestern Iran, according to state media.
One person was killed and four others injured, the deputy governor of Khuzestan province told the IRNA news agency.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said they had struck US military targets and bases in Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.
IRNA cited several statements released by the Guards saying they had attacked Prince Hassan Air Base in Jordan, a US military drone command centre in Bahrain and airbases including Ali Al Salem in Kuwait.
The IRGC also said its missile and drone attacks had set fire to fuel storage tanks and ammunition depots on the Jordanian base used by the US military.
It said missiles and drones hit Jordan’s Prince Hassan Air Base. The attack was the first phase of the response to the latest US strikes.
It also said that a military base at Bahrain’s Sheikh Isa was hit in the second phase of the retaliatory operation.
The US Fifth Fleet headquarters is in Bahrain, but it is not at Sheikh Isa, which is a Bahraini base. However, the base has hosted US military operations and aircraft.
Revolutionary Guards also claimed attacks on Ali Al Salem and Ahmad Al Jaber military bases in Kuwait. Both these bases are Kuwaiti but host the US military.
In another statement, it said its naval forces targeted and destroyed US military facilities in Jafirah, Bahrain, and radar systems in Oman as part of reciprocal actions.
It also said an air defence unit destroyed a Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drone belonging to the US military near the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas on Monday, Mehr News reported.
The IRGC statement also said that ending US military interventions in the Strait of Hormuz was the only way to restore vessel passage.
It warned that continued interference could lead to greater incidents in the global oil and gas sector.
