Iran Closes Hormuz, Hits Gulf States as US Strikes 300 Iranian Targets
Iran extended missile strikes to Qatar and UAE while again declaring Hormuz closed, as US forces hit over 300 Iranian military sites across three nights.
Iran dramatically widened its four-month conflict with the United States over the weekend, extending missile and drone strikes to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates for the first time in months, targeting Jordan, Kuwait, and Oman, and again declaring the Strait of Hormuz closed to unauthorized shipping. US Central Command responded with strikes on more than 300 Iranian military targets over three consecutive nights, including 140 targets on Saturday alone, according to Reuters.
Tehran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority said permits for Hormuz transit would only resume once "stability and calm" return — language that immediately rattled energy markets. Washington insisted a southern shipping route remains open, but the threat alone is enough to drive fresh supply-risk premiums into benchmark crude prices and push freight and war-risk insurance rates higher. The US also revoked a licence permitting Iranian crude sales, tightening global oil supply further.
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The breadth of the strikes signals a meaningful escalation. Qatar, which had been serving as a mediator in ceasefire talks, reported three people injured by falling shrapnel and held Iran fully responsible. Kuwait reported damage and an injury at an oil drilling platform, Bahrain said it intercepted several aerial attacks, and an Indian national went missing after an assault on the container vessel GFS Galaxy off Oman, with 23 crew members rescued. Axios, citing a senior US official, reported American forces also targeted Iranian missile systems, air defenses, and IRGC speedboats near the strait.
Adding uncertainty to an already volatile picture, Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei — who has maintained a conspicuously low public profile — issued a written statement vowing revenge for his father's death in the February 28 strike that triggered the conflict. Analysts note that the leadership's continued absence from public view clouds Tehran's command structure, a dynamic markets may price as heightened escalation risk in the days ahead. Political sensitivity over US gasoline prices ahead of midterm elections could push Washington to keep southern shipping corridors open by force if necessary.
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