WASHINGTON/DUBAI — The United States launched a new round of airstrikes against Iranian military targets Tuesday, escalating a confrontation that had appeared to be shifting toward sanctions and diplomacy after six months of war.
U.S. Central Command said it began striking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets at noon Eastern time, citing what it called recent attempted attacks by Iranian forces against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and American service members deployed across the region.
Iran reported explosions on Qeshm Island, near the Strait of Hormuz, as well as in Bandar Abbas, Chabahar, Jask and Sirik, according to Iranian state and state-linked media. The scope of damage and casualties was not immediately clear.
President Donald Trump defended the new attacks and warned that Iran would face a harsher response if it retaliated. Tehran, however, remained defiant, with Iranian officials threatening to stop oil exports from the Persian Gulf if Iran itself cannot export crude.
The escalation sent shockwaves through energy markets. Brent crude settled up $4.16, or 4.6%, at $94.65 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose $4.46, or 5.2%, to $90.22. Both contracts finished at their highest levels in more than five weeks.
The fighting has renewed fears that a conflict centered on Iran, U.S. military facilities and shipping lanes could widen into a broader disruption of global energy supplies.
Fresh U.S. strikes
The U.S. attacks followed a weekend exchange that ended the first known period of direct U.S.-Iranian military confrontation since late July.
On Sunday, U.S. forces struck Iranian positions on Larak Island, near the Strait of Hormuz, after American officials said Revolutionary Guard forces were preparing to launch rockets carrying sea mines into the waterway. Iran answered by firing missiles at two U.S. air bases in Jordan.
Trump said Monday that he did not regard the exchange as necessarily signaling a return to full-scale war. A senior Iranian source similarly described the confrontation to Reuters as “limited and contained.”
Tuesday’s strikes raised doubts about whether that assessment could hold.
“Today at 12 p.m. ET, U.S. forces began striking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets in Iran,” U.S. Central Command said in a social-media statement. “The strikes follow recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region.”
Trump wrote that Iran would be struck again “at a much harder and higher level” if it retaliated. An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesman, quoted by Iran’s Fars news agency, said the United States “will regret its new attacks.”
The language from both sides highlighted how quickly an intermittent conflict can return to open military action. The June memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran was meant to halt fighting and create a 60-day period for broader talks. That period expired without an agreement on the central disputes that drove the war.
The conflict began on Feb. 28, when U.S. and Israeli forces launched strikes against Iran. Since then, fighting has killed thousands in Iran and Lebanon, according to Reuters, while attacks, counterattacks and threats to navigation have reshaped security calculations across the Middle East.
Strait of Hormuz under pressure
The Strait of Hormuz has become the conflict’s most critical geographic and economic flashpoint.
The narrow waterway links the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and is a principal route for oil and gas exports from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Iran. Its effective closure or prolonged disruption would threaten supplies far beyond the region, affecting energy prices, shipping costs, inflation and economic growth in countries across Asia, Europe and North America.
Iran has effectively closed the strait to much commercial shipping, Reuters reported, though the exact level of traffic and the number of vessels still transiting varies because some ships have limited public tracking signals.
Two supertankers carrying Saudi oil were struck by unknown projectiles within minutes of each other late Monday while traveling outbound through the Strait of Hormuz, according to shipping-intelligence firms Marisks and Kpler. The reports have not established responsibility for the attacks.
The incidents nonetheless intensified market anxiety. Energy traders viewed the tanker reports as evidence that the conflict was affecting not only military assets but commercial vessels transporting crude from the world’s most important oil-producing region.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf was quoted by Iranian media as saying that if Iran could not export oil from the Persian Gulf, no one would be able to export oil from the region.
That threat goes beyond diplomatic rhetoric. It signals Tehran’s willingness to use its position along the Gulf’s maritime chokepoint as leverage against the United States and countries aligned with Washington.
For global markets, the danger is not limited to a formal blockade. A series of attacks, sea mines, drone activity, missile launches or insurance restrictions could make normal shipping too risky even if the strait technically remains open.
Oil prices and economic effects
The latest hostilities gave oil markets their sharpest one-day jolt in weeks.
Brent crude’s settlement at $94.65 a barrel was its highest since July 24, while WTI’s $90.22 close was the highest since July 23.
The immediate reason was concern over supply. But the effect could extend further if tanker attacks persist or if shipping companies avoid the region.
Analysts have warned that a prolonged disruption through Hormuz could force governments and companies to draw on oil inventories, seek alternative shipping routes and compete for available supplies. Those alternatives are limited. Pipelines that bypass the strait do not have enough spare capacity to replace all the oil that normally transits through it.
The impact may already be visible in refined products. U.S. diesel futures reached a 52-month high Tuesday after increasing about 51% over the previous 10 weeks, Reuters reported. The diesel crack spread, a measure of the refining margin for turning crude into diesel, rose to a record of roughly $107 a barrel, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters.
Diesel is critical to trucking, rail freight, construction, agriculture and industrial operations. Higher diesel prices can feed through to the cost of moving goods, producing food and operating businesses.
U.S. consumers could eventually feel the impact through fuel prices, transportation costs and broader inflation if crude remains elevated. The risk is especially sensitive for the Federal Reserve, whose policymakers are already watching whether energy costs will complicate efforts to control inflation.
The U.S. oil market was also awaiting weekly storage data from the American Petroleum Institute and the Energy Information Administration. Analysts surveyed by Reuters expected a decline of about 800,000 barrels in U.S. crude stocks for the week ended Aug. 28.
A drawdown in inventories, if confirmed, could reinforce the perception that markets have less buffer against a sustained supply interruption.
Tehran mixes diplomacy and defiance
Even as airstrikes resumed, Iran signaled that it had not entirely abandoned diplomatic language.
President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran would “immediately reciprocate” if Washington returned to commitments under the June memorandum of understanding. He made the remarks at a regional summit in Kyrgyzstan.
The statement suggested that Iran still sees room for a negotiated reduction in tensions. But it was paired with uncompromising language from other officials.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei accused Washington of making excessive demands and treating negotiations as an effort to dictate terms. He said Iran would use “all our capabilities,” both on the battlefield and through diplomacy.
The differing messages capture the core difficulty of the conflict. Both sides have incentives to avoid a prolonged regional war, but both also insist they cannot appear to retreat.
Washington says it is acting to protect commercial shipping and U.S. forces. Tehran says it is defending Iranian sovereignty and resisting pressure from a U.S.-Israeli campaign. Each new strike creates domestic and strategic pressure for a response.
That dynamic narrows the space for diplomacy.
Sanctions campaign widens
The military escalation is unfolding alongside a renewed U.S. economic offensive.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington is likely to announce sanctions on an Iranian bank this week and another the following week as part of an effort to increase pressure on Tehran’s leadership.
Bessent said the United States was also considering measures against airline-leasing companies and other entities that conduct business with the Revolutionary Guard. He said countries continuing to do business with Iran could face U.S. sanctions.
“We have zero tolerance,” Bessent said, according to Reuters. “We are going to economically asphyxiate this regime.”
Iran has endured decades of U.S. sanctions, many targeting its oil exports, financial system and ability to obtain weapons components. But the current campaign takes place against a different backdrop: active conflict, maritime disruption and high energy prices.
Sanctions may limit Tehran’s options over time, but they can also strengthen the Iranian government’s argument that economic and military pressure are part of the same U.S. strategy. That perception could harden resistance rather than accelerate compromise.
Risks to Americans and allies
The U.S. Embassy in Qatar urged Americans in the Middle East to exercise “heightened vigilance” and prepare for potential flight cancellations, airspace closures and travel disruption.
The warning reflects a broader regional threat environment. U.S. military personnel are based in or operate from facilities across countries including Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Any broader Iranian response could place those sites, and the governments hosting them, under increased pressure.
The weekend missile launches toward U.S. bases in Jordan showed that the conflict can reach beyond the Gulf. Regional states face a difficult position: many depend on security partnerships with Washington but do not want their territory to become a battlefield in a confrontation between the United States and Iran.
For commercial aviation, cargo transportation and international travelers, the risks include sudden airspace restrictions, route changes and delays. For shipping crews, the risk is more direct: transit through a strategic waterway where attacks, mines and military patrols are increasingly part of daily calculations.
What comes next
The immediate question is whether Tuesday’s strikes will be followed by another Iranian response.
Iran has not publicly detailed all of its options, but it has already demonstrated the ability to threaten commercial shipping, launch missiles toward U.S. facilities and use the Strait of Hormuz as leverage. Washington, meanwhile, has shown it is prepared to strike inside Iran and pursue wider financial sanctions.
The June agreement remains formally relevant as a framework for diplomacy, but events have moved beyond its central promise of halting hostilities.
For markets, the next signals will come from military activity near Hormuz, shipping-company decisions, crude inventories and government statements. A reduction in attacks could allow oil prices to ease. Further tanker damage, a formal Iranian export blockade or a major U.S. strike could send prices higher and increase the risk of a broader regional confrontation.
For now, the conflict has moved out of its uneasy pause. The exchange of threats, airstrikes and tanker attacks has returned the U.S.-Iran war to the center of global security and energy concerns.