Iran vows not a ‘single drop’ of oil or gas will pass strait of Hormuz as US carries out ninth night of strikes – Middle East crisis live

Iran vows not a ‘single drop’ of oil or gas will pass strait of Hormuz as US carries out ninth night of strikes – Middle East crisis live Revolutionary Guard says it targeted US aircraft in Jordan and stopped two tankers in strait while American military says it is ‘holding Iran accountable’ Iran vows not 'a single drop' of oil or gas will transit Hormuz strait if US 'aggression' continues Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says it has targeted US aircraft in Jordan’s Aqaba airport with ballistic missiles. It also claimed on Monday that two oil tankers had exploded and been immobilised after attempting to transit what it described as an unsafe southern route through the strait of Hormuz, alleging they had been encouraged by the US military to use the passage. The statement from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps gave no details on the vessels’ names, flags, crews or any casualties, Reuters reports, saying it could not immediately verify the incident. The Guard said the strait would remain unsafe as long as what it called US “aggression” in the region continued, warning that “this passage will not be safe for the transit of petrochemical products, nor even a single drop of oil and gas”. It also warned the US military to prepare for a “punitive operation”. Kuwait’s army has said that the country’s air defences are actively “confronting attacks” from Iranian drones. In a post on social media, the General Staff of the Army ordered citizens to “adhere to the security and safety instructions issued by the competent authorities.” The statement comes soon after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed to have hit US military targets in the country. Rubio says other countries need to 'step up' to protect Hormuz strait shipping The US secretary of state has said Iran is using the strait of Hormuz as leverage in the ongoing Middle East conflict and that other countries need to step up pressure to protect global shipping. “It’s clear that Iran – at least some people in Iran – want to control the straits and hold that as leverage against the world,” Marco Rubio told reporters ahead of travelling to the Philippines for a meeting of foreign ministers with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). The United States will do and continue to do what it needs to, to protect global shipping, but other countries need to begin to step up and provide – whether it’s hardware or finances – to help carry that burden. When asked if there was still a diplomatic solution to the escalating conflict, Rubio said, quoted by AFP: I think we’re always open to diplomacy. It has to be real. It has to be a deal that they’re willing to live by. Iran attacks US military targets in Kuwait – reports Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has reportedly said it hit US military targets in Kuwait, with the Fars news agency cited as saying the Ali Al Salem air base was targeted. The Kuwaiti army earlier said its air defences were responding to hostile drones from Iran. The Islamic republic has continued launching strikes around the Gulf region in response to waves of US attacks as the two countries edge closer to a return to full-scale war after the collapse of their interim peace agreement signed last month. The latest US-Iran hostilities come as the two countries have inched closer to all-out war since last month’s interim deal meant to permanently end the fighting has crumbled and shipping traffic in the strait of Hormuz has largely stalled. Iran has continued to retaliate against US strikes by hitting American-allied countries throughout the Middle East, with sirens heard in Bahrain early on Monday and Kuwait army later saying its air defences were responding to hostile drones from Iran. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also claimed to have launched a “surprise attack” on an enemy command centre in the Al-Tanf region of Syria, in a statement reported by Iranian state news agency Irna. After Iran targeted sites in Jordan on Sunday, Israel warned of the danger of the strikes spilling across its borders, reigniting a direct regional conflict that had been restrained even as tensions between the Trump administration and Iran have soared again. “If Iran fires missiles at Israel, we will attack them with full force,” Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said on Sunday. The US is expected to send dozens of additional refuelling planes to Israel as part of a reinforcement of its force posture in the region, a US official told Reuters. The price of oil jumped in early Asian trade on Monday after the US carried out its latest wave of strikes on Iran and a vessel caught fire in the strait of Hormuz. Brent crude for September delivery rose 2.72% to $90.50 a barrel by around 0100 GMT, after briefly crossing $91 – its highest price since June. The US benchmark West Texas Intermediate gained 2.39% to $84.46, Agence France-Presse reports. The gains reflected growing fears that renewed fighting in the Middle East could disrupt oil shipments through the Hormuz strait, a critical corridor for global energy supplies. The US military’s Central Command says it has “successfully completed” its ninth consecutive evening of strikes against Iran. It said in a post on X: CENTCOM assets targeted Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and communications networks to further diminish Iran’s ability to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. military is holding Iran accountable at the Commander in Chief’s direction. Iran vows not 'a single drop' of oil or gas will transit Hormuz strait if US 'aggression' continues Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says it has targeted US aircraft in Jordan’s Aqaba airport with ballistic missiles. It also claimed on Monday that two oil tankers had exploded and been immobilised after attempting to transit what it described as an unsafe southern route through the strait of Hormuz, alleging they had been encouraged by the US military to use the passage. The statement from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps gave no details on the vessels’ names, flags, crews or any casualties, Reuters reports, saying it could not immediately verify the incident. The Guard said the strait would remain unsafe as long as what it called US “aggression” in the region continued, warning that “this passage will not be safe for the transit of petrochemical products, nor even a single drop of oil and gas”. It also warned the US military to prepare for a “punitive operation”. More now on Donald Trump saying the latest US strikes on Iran were being carried out in honour of US service members killed in recent days. “We hit them very hard again tonight, and we did that in honour of the probably three, it’s probably three great patriots,” Trump told reporters as he returned to Washington after the World Cup final. The US president said “we feel very badly” when asked about the military fatalities, adding that those who died were fighting so that “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon”, in comments cited by the AFP news agency. As mentioned, one American service member was killed in Iraq during the “controlled detonation” of a downed Iranian drone on Saturday and two were killed in Jordan in an Iranian attack on Friday, according to the US military. Kuwait’s army said earlier that its air defences were responding to hostile drones from Iran, while in Bahrain the interior ministry also said earlier that air raid sirens had sounded there. Tehran has previously retaliated against US attacks with strikes at American-allied countries around the Middle East. The Israeli military says sirens sounded a short time ago in the southern Israeli areasof Kfar Aza and Sa’ad but it had been determined to be from a “false identification”. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said it had received a report of an incident 8 nautical miles (14.8 km) north-west of Oman’s Kumzar, where information from a verified source indicated that a vessel was on fire. UKMTO, cited by Reuters, said the cause of the fire had not been verified. Opening summary: US says it is launching ninth night of strikes on Iran Hello and welcome to our live coverage of developments in the Middle East. The US military says it is beginning its ninth night of strikes on Iran, with an interim deal aimed at ending the war appearing to have all but collapsed. “The strikes will continue degrading Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the strait of Hormuz,” US Central Command said on X on Sunday. The attacks on Sunday come after a US service member was killed in Iraq the previous day during a “controlled detonation” of a downed Iranian drone, according to the US military, and two American troops were killed in Jordan on Friday. The US military said carried out strikes against Iran on Saturday to “swiftly punish” the country’s Revolutionary Guard for the Jordan attack, while Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said the US would pay for trying to “escalate” the conflict. In other key developments: Bahrain’s interior ministry said overnight to Monday that its air raid sirens had sounded. “Citizens and residents are urged to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place,” it said on X. Bahrain, host of the US Fifth Fleet, has been targeted by Iranian strikes in recent days. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Monday it launched a “surprise attack” on an enemy command centre in Syria, in a statement reported by state news agency Irna. They attack was “in revenge for the blood of martyred soldiers of Iranshahr”, a city in south-east Iran, Irna said on Telegram. Iran said it targeted two US bases in Kuwait in response to more than a week of intensifying attacks, which Tehran says have hit transport and infrastructure sites, including an under-construction nuclear power plant. Kuwait and Bahrain have borne the brunt of attacks by Iran on its Gulf neighbours since hostilities resumed this month despite a ceasefire and memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran. Jordan also reported intercepting missiles, a day after the US military said the two service members were killed there Friday and another had gone missing in action as they “defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks”. US Central Command’s announcement that a service member died in northern Iraq during the controlled detonation of an unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian drone brought to 17 the confirmed number of American military fatalities since the war began. Iran’s health ministry said on Saturday that 50 people had been killed and more than 500 injured in US strikes on the country over the past three weeks.