US launches fresh strikes on IRGC targets in Iran amid Gulf standoff
US forces struck IRGC targets in Iran on Tuesday, escalating tensions after weekend attacks and tanker incidents near the Strait of Hormuz.
The United States launched fresh air strikes on Iranian targets on Tuesday, ending hopes that last weekend's exchange of fire would not escalate into a wider renewal of hostilities. US Central Command said its forces began striking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in Iran at 12 p.m. ET, describing the action as a response to recent IRGC attempts against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members in the region.
Iranian state media reported explosions on Qeshm Island, near the northern side of the strait, and in the port cities of Bandar Abbas and Chabahar. The scale of the resumption of hostilities remains unclear.
The six-month-old conflict had shifted into an economic standoff before the weekend, when US forces attacked Iran's Larak Island and Iran launched missiles at two US air bases in Jordan. While President Donald Trump warned of a response to those Iranian strikes, he also said they did not signal a return to full-scale war. A senior Iranian source described the weekend events as a "limited and contained confrontation."
Oil prices had already risen following the weekend attacks and reports that two supertankers were hit while leaving the Strait, a vital waterway for global oil supplies that Iran has effectively closed to shipping.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran would immediately reciprocate if Washington honoured its commitments under a June Memorandum of Understanding intended to halt the conflict. That agreement declared an end to fighting that has killed thousands in Iran and Lebanon since US and Israeli strikes began on February 28, but deferred difficult issues and a 60-day negotiation period passed without further agreement.
Iranian officials showed no public sign of bowing to pressure. Parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned that if the enemy wanted Iran to stop exporting oil from the Persian Gulf, no one would be able to export. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei accused Washington of mistaking negotiations for dictating terms, and warned Tehran would use all its capabilities, on the battlefield or through diplomacy.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said new bank sanctions were likely this week and next, adding to the economic pressure in the standoff.