US, Iran exchange new round of strikes after Hormuz ship attack
A crew chief assigned to 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit sends signals from the flight deck of USS Boxer during flight operations in the Indian Ocean on June 29, 2026. (Martin Perez/U.S. Navy)
The United States and Iran exchanged another round of attacks on Sunday, further escalating fighting after Iran fired at a civilian vessel attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. forces hit about 140 Iranian military targets, including missile and drone sites, naval capabilities and communication networks, according to a statement from U.S. Central Command late Saturday.
Missile alerts and sirens sounded early Sunday in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, all of which host U.S. military personnel. There were no immediate reports of any damage or injuries in those locations.
The latest strikes raised new questions about whether the fighting can be contained. Although President Donald Trump last week declared the ceasefire over, the White House says it still wants to pursue talks called for in a June agreement that paused the fighting.
On Friday, U.S. officials warned Iran would face “serious consequences” unless it publicly declared the Strait of Hormuz open to commercial shipping and pledged to stop firing on civilian vessels.
“Iran made a poor choice,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on X after the latest U.S. strikes. “Now they pay.”
CENTCOM said its strikes were directed by Trump and meant to impose a “heavy cost by continuing to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the strait.”
“Iran was provided yet another opportunity to demonstrate adherence to the Memorandum of Understanding after being held accountable for earlier attacks on commercial vessels but has again failed,” CENTCOM said.
The U.S. military said its strikes were a response to Iran’s attack on the M/V GFS Galaxy, a Cyprus-flagged container ship, which experienced significant engine room damage after a fire broke out.
The crew abandoned the vessel and boarded a lifeboat before being rescued by local authorities, according to the United Kingdom’s maritime security office for commercial shipping.
Earlier, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced it had fired warning shots at a vessel that had attempted to take an “unauthorized route” to cross the Strait of Hormuz.
In a statement via state media, the IRGC said the strait was “to be closed until further notice and until regional interference by the U.S. ceases.”
Speaking on X, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf defended the Iranian moves.
“The era of one-sided deals is OVER,” Ghalibaf wrote. “We told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking.”
The United States and Iran have been at war since late February, when the U.S.and Israel launched a series of strikes that degraded Iran’s military and killed many of its top leaders.