US-Iran strikes resume over Hormuz control, oil tops $90

The United States conducted new airstrikes on Iranian military targets along the southern coast this week, prompting Iran to launch drones and missiles at American allies across the Gulf region and ending a monthlong pause in direct hostilities. The exchange marks the heaviest fighting in weeks in a conflict now entering its seventh month, with both sides trading accusations over civilian harm and threats of further escalation.

US Central Command said the strikes targeted rocket launchers on an island in the Strait of Hormuz that Iran was preparing to use for mining the waterway, along with other coastal military sites. Iranian officials reported that one strike hit a residential building in Kuhestak during a wedding celebration, killing at least four people including a child and wounding more than 50 others. A local official later put the death toll at five with 68 injured. Iranian state media and the Revolutionary Guards described the incident as a deliberate attack on civilians, with one parliament member calling it proof of American desperation. US officials maintained that forces do not target civilians and said the operations responded to Iranian threats against shipping and regional troops.

Iran responded by firing ballistic missiles toward a US base in Jordan, all of which were intercepted without casualties, and launching drones at sites in Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE. Bahrain reported intercepting incoming fire and accused Iran of targeting civilians. Kuwait said a drone attack caused a fire at a residential complex in the capital. The UAE said it intercepted a drone over its waters. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards framed the strikes as retaliation for the wedding deaths and warned of continued action.

The renewed violence has disrupted a period in which the conflict had largely shifted to an economic standoff, with Iran restricting oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz and the United States enforcing a naval blockade of Iranian ports. Oil prices have risen sharply since the fighting began, adding pressure to global supply chains already strained by other disruptions. In the United States, the ongoing costs of the war are emerging as a political liability for President Trump’s administration ahead of the November midterm elections, particularly as negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program remain stalled.

Trump warned on social media and in interviews that any Iranian retaliation would be met with stronger force, saying Tehran would be hit “much harder and higher” if it continued attacks. Iranian negotiators and military spokesmen rejected the characterization of US actions as defensive and vowed to respond to what they called violations of international norms. Both governments have framed their operations as necessary responses to the other’s aggression, creating a cycle that analysts say makes de-escalation more difficult.

Regional US allies including Bahrain and Kuwait, which host American naval and military facilities, have been drawn directly into the exchanges, increasing the risk that limited strikes could expand into wider confrontation. The presence of roughly 50,000 US troops across the Middle East adds further complexity, as any miscalculation could produce casualties that accelerate the conflict. With talks on limiting Iran’s nuclear activities frozen and neither side showing willingness to accept the other’s core demands, the latest round of attacks suggests the war’s economic and military pressures are unlikely to ease soon.