Explosions reported in several Iranian cities as IRGC claims it hit oil tankers trying to cross Hormuz, struck assets in Kuwait; Iran said to suspect US planning ground operation
US forces struck Iran for a ninth consecutive day on Monday as the number of confirmed American military deaths in the renewed fighting rose to three, and concerns grew over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which the Trump administration accused the Islamic Republic of seeking to control “as leverage against the world.”
In a statement, US Central Command said the strikes were aimed at “degrading” Iran’s ability to attack commercial vessels in the strait’s vital shipping lanes, targeting military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and communications networks.
“The US military is holding Iran accountable at the commander in chief’s direction,” said Central Command. “CENTCOM forces remain highly vigilant, focused, lethal, and ready.”
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, citing its own reporters, said US missiles struck several Iranian cities early Monday, with explosions heard in Tabriz, Chabahar, Konarak, Bandar Mahshahr and Bandar Imam Khomeini. State media reported that strikes also hit several locations in Iran’s southern port city of Bushehr, home to the country’s only civilian nuclear plant.
Announcing the latest casualties in the war, the US military said on Sunday that a servicemember was killed on Saturday in northern Iraq, where the US has military bases, “during a controlled detonation” of a downed Iranian attack drone.
The casualty announcements brought the total number of US military personnel killed since the war began to 17, with more than 420 others wounded.
“We hit them very hard again tonight, and we did that in honor of the, probably three, it’s probably three great patriots,” Trump told reporters amid the latest strikes as he returned to Washington following the World Cup final.
Trump 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.”
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, meanwhile, claimed early Monday that it had hit and disabled two oil tankers trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz.
“Late last night, two non-compliant oil tankers… attempted to enter and exit through what was described as the unsafe and hazardous southern route of the Strait of Hormuz, exploded and were brought to a halt,” the Guards says in a statement, according to the Tasnim news agency.
The statement gave no details on the vessels’ names, flags, crews or any casualties.
The Guards said the waterway 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.”
Four vessels made the transit through Hormuz on Sunday, down from eight the previous day, LSEG data showed. At least three oil products tankers and one Very Large Crude Carrier have entered the strait since Friday to load oil, according to the data.
The IRGC also announced an overnight surprise attack on “the enemy’s special operations headquarters in Syria’s Al-Tanf area,” as well as against Bahrain and Kuwait, the latter of which said it was “engaging hostile drone attacks following Iranian aggression.”
The Guards said that in Kuwait, a US early-warning radar system was “completely destroyed,” and that Iranian forces “struck an equipment and aircraft parts warehouse and an MQ-9 drone hangar at Ali Al Salem Air Base, setting several drones on fire.”
Additionally, the IRGC said it targeted US military aircraft stationed at Aqaba Airport in southern Jordan.
American heavy transport aircraft and command and control aircraft “were targeted with ballistic missiles, causing severe damage to a number of them,” the IRGC said in a statement carried by Iran’s state broadcaster.
Iran had also targeted Aqaba the day before in an attack that risked widening the conflict into Israel, which launched interceptors to down fragments from Iranian missiles.
Israel readying ‘immediate and strategic operational options’
During the recent exchanges of fire, now in their second week, Iran has focused attacks on US-allied Arab states rather than Israel, which launched the war with the United States on February 28.
“We are prepared to immediately resume combat,” said IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir.
Step by step, the US and Iran have returned closer to all-out war as last month’s interim deal meant to permanently end the fighting has crumbled and shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has largely stalled.
A senior Israeli official told Channel 12 news on Sunday that Israel was preparing for the possibility of joining an expanded US military campaign against Iran, after the security establishment assessed at high-level government discussions that the likelihood of a significant escalation in the near future had greatly risen.
“We are in continuous dialogue with the Americans, but one thing is a fact: Trump is unpredictable,” the official told the network. “At the moment, it appears that [the US seeks] to step up the intensity of American strikes in Iran.”
However, the official noted that senior Trump envoys, primarily Steve Witkoff, as well as mediator Qatar, were continuing to try to bring the sides back to negotiations.
In light of that, Israel was “preparing for every possibility and building immediate and strategic operational options,” the official added, saying, “If the Americans decide to escalate or involve Israel, or if the Iranians carry out an unexpected and unwise move against us, we will be ready.”
The Haaretz daily also reported that Middle East diplomats were preparing for a possible escalation, with a regional source joking to the newspaper on Saturday: “Tomorrow is the World Cup final; the day after tomorrow is the Middle East final.”
According to Haaretz, Iran is concerned that American strikes are a preparation for a ground operation to seize control of the Strait of Hormuz — though a Western source that spoke to the newspaper was skeptical that this would happen.
The report said mediators are still trying to de-escalate, with US Vice President JD Vance sending a message to Tehran via Pakistan that failed to quell the exchanges of fire.
Diplomats told Haaretz that Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, fresh off a trip to Washington, is expected to deliver another message to Iran from the US, with a visit expected on July 23.
Diplomatic sources also assessed to the Hebrew daily that the United Arab Emirates, which was targeted more than any other country in the early weeks of the war, has now reached understandings with Iran, though it’s largely stopped its mediation efforts, and that Bahrain is now the Arab state taking the most hardline position against the Islamic Republic.
‘Other countries need to step up’
Concerns about the flow of energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz have persisted since a fragile truce between Iran and the United States broke down over a week ago following attacks by Iran on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the critical international waterway through which a fifth of the global oil and gas supply transited prior to the war.
The Royal Navy’s United Kingdom Maritime Operations Centre said late Sunday that it received a report that a vessel was on fire not far from the Omani coast, although it had not verified a cause.
Oil prices jumped 3% on Monday, with Brent crude futures surpassing $90 a barrel, the highest level since June 11.
“It’s clear that Iran, at least some people in Iran, want to control the straits and hold that as leverage against the world,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters ahead of traveling 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,” he continued.
When asked if there was still a diplomatic off-ramp to the escalating conflict, Rubio said: “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.”
“They can’t have an MOU that’s alive if they’re violating the terms of it,” Rubio said.
“What I will say is that the United States always remains open to a diplomatic solution. We’ve tried multiple times with Iran, and we’ll continue to try.”
