U.S. Strikes Southern Iran, Iran Hits U.S. Bases in Kuwait and Bahrain

MIDDLE EAST — Three commercial tankers were struck while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on July 7 in attacks that Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the United States attributed to Iran, and U.S. Central Command announced it had struck more than 80 targets in southern Iran the same evening, the first exchange of fire in the waterway since a stand-down between American and Iranian forces took hold nine days earlier.

The strikes came as U.S. and Iranian negotiators continued talks under the framework the two governments signed June 17 to end Operation Epic Fury and reopen the strait to commercial traffic.

A Qatari-owned liquefied natural gas tanker caught fire after being struck near Limah, Oman. A Saudi crude oil tanker was hit exiting the strait near Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, and a third tanker sustained minor damage near the Musandam Peninsula.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center (UKMTO) and the Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC) each reported “no casualties or environmental impact” from the three incidents.

Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the Gulf Cooperation Council condemned the attacks and held Iran responsible.

The U.S. Treasury Department revoked the license authorizing Iran to sell oil on international markets, and CENTCOM reported its forces struck Iranian targets that evening. Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded with a formal statement calling the U.S. actions violations of the memorandum ending the war.

Early on July 8, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had struck U.S. bases in Kuwait and Bahrain in retaliation for the American strikes, and Kuwait’s military said its air defenses were confronting the missile and drone attack, the first Iranian fire on U.S. positions in the Gulf since the late-June stand-down.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry told the Gulf states hosting U.S. forces they would be complicit in any aggression against Iran and said its forces would “target the source and origin of the aggression,” while Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf stated Washington had violated the memorandum and Tehran raised the prospect of halting the talks held since June 17.

Qatar Summons Iran’s Deputy Ambassador, Reserves Right to Respond

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Iran’s deputy ambassador to Doha, Mohsen Mohammad Ghanei, to its headquarters on July 7 and delivered a formal protest note. Director of the Protocol Department Ibrahim bin Yousef Fakhro handed Ghanei the note.

The note stated that Iran must immediately cease practices that compromise regional security and refrain from endangering international shipping and energy supplies.

It further stated that Qatar reserves all rights under international law to take measures it deems appropriate to protect its interests and assets, and added that Iran should provide an urgent explanation for the attack and take steps to prevent its recurrence.

Ministry spokesperson Dr. Majed bin Mohammed Al Ansari separately posted that Qatar holds Iran “fully legally responsible for this attack and for any resulting damages and consequences.”

Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Qatar Hold Iran Responsible, Two Governments Cite UN Resolution 2817

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the attacks on both the Saudi tanker Wedyan and the Qatari tanker Al Rekayyat, and said Iran’s continued attacks constitute a violation of international law and of UN Security Council Resolution 2817, the measure the Council adopted in March condemning Iran’s attacks during Operation Epic Fury.

Riyadh stated that Iran must immediately cease all actions that endanger regional security and international navigation, and held Iran fully responsible for the attacks and their consequences.

Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates’ Affairs condemned the attack on the Saudi tanker and stated the Kingdom stands in absolute solidarity with Saudi Arabia, adding its full support for whatever steps Riyadh takes to protect its security, stability, and resources. The statement did not separately reference the Qatari tanker Al Rekayyat or the third vessel struck near the Musandam Peninsula.

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a second, separate statement condemning the targeting of the Saudi tanker Wedyan, distinct from its own protest note over the Qatari tanker Al Rekayyat.

The ministry called the Wedyan attack “a grave violation of international maritime safety, a direct threat to global energy supplies, and a clear breach of international law,” and said continued attacks “jeopardize the gains achieved” under the U.S.-Iran memorandum.

Qatar’s statement, like Saudi Arabia’s, cited UN Security Council Resolution 2817 and repeated the demand that Iran “immediately cease all practices that threaten the security of the region.”

Gulf Cooperation Council Calls for International Response

Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary-General Jasem Albudaiwi condemned the attack on the Qatari tanker Al Rekayyat. He said governments and institutions engaged in the region should “assume their responsibilities and take a firm and deterrent stance against these repeated Iranian attacks,” and added that the GCC stands in full solidarity with Qatar in whatever measures it takes in response.

Commercial Traffic Holds Steady Through the Southern Corridor

JMIC’s Update 068 said Arabian Gulf traffic flows “remained stable, with anchorage congestion unchanged across the region” over the 48 hours preceding the report.

Commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained steady via both the Oman-coordinated southern corridor and the Iranian-controlled northern route, and U.S.-assisted commercial transits continued without interruption despite the elevated threat environment.

JMIC’s reporting window closed before CENTCOM’s evening strikes on southern Iran, so the update does not capture whether commercial operators have since adjusted transit patterns in response.

United States Revokes Iran Oil Sanctions Relief

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control revoked General License X on July 7, the authorization it had issued June 21 permitting the production, delivery, and sale of Iranian-origin crude oil, petrochemical products, and petroleum products through August 21.

OFAC replaced it the same day with General License X1, a wind-down authorization that bars new purchases and loadings of Iranian-origin crude oil, petrochemical products, and petroleum products from July 7 and permits only the completion of previously authorized transactions through July 17.

The Treasury had issued the original license in partial implementation of the June 17 memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran.

CENTCOM Strikes Southern Iran, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Formally Protests Both U.S. Actions

U.S. Central Command announced the retaliatory strikes Tuesday evening in a statement posted to its official account and detailed them in a fuller press release.

The command reported its forces struck more than 80 targets with precision munitions, listing Iranian air defense systems, command and control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities, and more than 60 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps small boats in and near the strait.

CENTCOM said the goal was to “degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking international commerce” through the waterway, and named all three struck tankers by flag state: the Marshall Islands-flagged Al Rekayyat, the Saudi Arabia-flagged Wedyan, and the Liberian-flagged Cyprus Prosperity, citing the attacks on them as the trigger for the strikes.

Iranian state media separately reported explosions at three locations along Iran’s southern coast: at least seven near the port of Sirik, six on Qeshm Island, and additional explosions near Bandar Abbas, which hosts a major Iranian naval base.

Those location-level figures remain unconfirmed by independent evidence and are narrower in scope than CENTCOM’s own 80-plus-target, 60-plus-boat count; no independent satellite or third-party imagery corroborating either tally was located.

Neither government released official casualty figures from the strikes; Iranian accounts reported several people injured by shrapnel at a commercial pier in Sirik and no deaths, not independently verified.

CENTCOM added that its forces “remain postured and prepared to hold Iran accountable when the agreement is not adhered to or obeyed.”

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a formal statement the same day titled, “Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the US’s clear violation of Article 10 of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding.”

Iran Strikes U.S. Bases in Kuwait and Bahrain

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said early on July 8 that it had carried out a joint missile and drone operation against U.S. military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain, in retaliation for the U.S. strikes on southern Iran hours earlier.

The Guard stated its forces targeted Ali Al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait and the U.S. Fifth Fleet at Salman Port in Bahrain, put the number of sites at 85, and reported downing a U.S. MQ-9 drone that attempted to interfere with the operation. Air-raid sirens sounded in both countries.

According to the Guard, the strikes answered a U.S. attack that “blatantly violated the ceasefire” and the Islamabad Memorandum by hitting coastal bases and non-military sites in Iran’s Hormozgan province and near Mahshahr.

Official Statements

• Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Speaker of Iran’s Parliament and lead negotiator, July 8: “The era of bullying and extortion is over. It leads nowhere. We don’t fold.”

• Iran Ministry of Foreign Affairs, July 8, statement on the U.S. strikes: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also strongly emphasizes the international legal obligation of all governments, especially neighboring countries located on the southern shore of the Persian Gulf, to prevent aggressors from using their territory and facilities to carry out aggressive acts against the Islamic Republic of Iran, and emphasizes that any cooperation in committing the crime of aggression against Iran constitutes complicity and participation in the crime... the powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as they have repeatedly shown, will not hesitate to defend the territorial integrity, national sovereignty, and national security of Iran against US military aggression, in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter, and will also target the source and origin of the aggression.”

• General Staff of the Kuwaiti Armed Forces, July 8: “Kuwaiti air defenses are currently confronting hostile missile and drone attacks. The General Staff of the Army notes that if explosion sounds are heard, they are the result of air defense systems intercepting the hostile attacks. Everyone is requested to adhere to the security and safety instructions issued by the competent authorities.”

• Kuwait Ministry of Foreign Affairs, July 8: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses the State of Kuwait’s condemnation and denunciation in the strongest terms of the repeated Iranian attacks on the State of Kuwait, the latest of which was this morning, in flagrant violation of its sovereignty... and a grave violation of the rules of international law, the Charter of the United Nations, and Security Council Resolution 2817... the security, sovereignty, and safety of the State of Kuwait, its citizens, and residents on its territory are a red line that cannot be crossed, reaffirming the State of Kuwait’s inherent and legitimate right to take all necessary measures to preserve its sovereignty and protect its security and stability.”

• Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs, July 7: “The State of Qatar expressed its strong condemnation and denunciation of the targeting of the Qatari tanker Al Rekayyat while it was transiting near the Strait of Hormuz, stressing that this attack amounts to a grave violation of the safety of international navigation, a direct threat to global energy supply security, and a clear and flagrant breach of international law.”

• Dr. Majed bin Mohammed Al Ansari, Advisor to the Prime Minister and Official Spokesperson of Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, July 7: “This assault is a grave and explicit violation of the international law, particularly the rules that guarantee freedom of maritime navigation and safe passage through international waterways... We hold it fully legally responsible for this attack and for any resulting damages and consequences.”

• Saudi Arabia Ministry of Foreign Affairs, July 7: “The Kingdom affirms that Iran’s continued launching of these attacks constitutes a grave violation of international law and norms, and of Security Council Resolution No. 2817, which guarantees freedom of maritime navigation and safe passage of sea lanes.”

• Jordan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates’ Affairs, July 7: “Jordan today condemned the Iranian attack that targeted one of the Saudi tankers while it was passing through the Strait of Hormuz; a flagrant violation of international law and a threat to the security and safety of maritime navigation.”

• Jasem Albudaiwi, Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, July 7: “The GCC stands as one with Qatar, expressing its full solidarity with the country in all measures it takes to confront this treacherous Iranian behavior.”

• UKMTO Warning 082-26, July 7, 1:05 p.m. UTC: “The tanker was struck by an unknown Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and has sustained minor structural damage. No casualties or environmental impact reported, and vessel is continuing to its next port of call.”

• U.S. Central Command, July 7: “U.S. Central Command forces have begun launching a series of powerful strikes against Iran to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway. The U.S. strikes are in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire.”

• Iran Ministry of Foreign Affairs, July 7, formal statement titled in translation “Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the US’s clear violation of Article 10 of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding”: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran strongly condemns the US Treasury’s move to lift the temporary suspension of the embargo on Iranian oil sales, which is a gross violation of Article 10 of the Memorandum of Understanding to End the War... The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, while warning of the consequences of America’s breach of the agreement, will take any action it deems necessary to protect its interests and national security.”

• Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs, July 7, statement on the Saudi tanker Wedyan: “The State of Qatar strongly condemns the targeting of the Saudi tanker ’Wedyan’ as it transited the Strait of Hormuz, calling the incident a grave violation of international maritime safety, a direct threat to global energy supplies, and a clear breach of international law.”

• U.S. Central Command, press release “U.S. Forces Complete New Round of Retaliatory Strikes Against Iran,” July 7: “U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces completed a new round of offensive strikes against Iran, July 7, hitting over 80 targets with precision munitions as an immediate response to Iran’s latest attacks on commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”