US forces fire on oil tanker in Strait of Hormuz as Iran retaliates across Gulf bases
The American military neutralised an oil tanker whose crew repeatedly tried to breach the blockade of Iranian ports, Centcom spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins said. Hours earlier Iranian drones and missiles hit US positions in Kuwait and Iraq.
The Hormuz incident
US forces opened fire on an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz after the crew attempted to force the blockade of Iranian ports at least four times, the Pentagon’s Central Command (Centcom) confirmed. Captain Tim Hawkins, the command’s spokesman, said the vessel was rendered inoperable when a boarding team fired into the engine room.
We made the tanker inoperable after the crew attempted to force the blockade at least four times previously. The crew was repeatedly warned but did not comply. US forces on site then rendered the ship inoperable by firing at the engine room. The ship is no longer headed for Iran.
American media reported that the disabled tanker had stopped sailing towards Iranian ports. The incident marked the first public acknowledgment of a lethal-force escalation at sea since the Trump administration reimposed a naval cordon.
Retaliatory strikes across the Gulf
Within the same 24-hour window Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed a “proportional” response to recent US bombardments. Drones struck three American bases in Kuwait (Al-Doha, Ali Al-Salem and Camp Arifjan) and the Erbil International Airport facility in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. There were no casualties at Erbil, local sources said. Tehran also threatened to completely seal the Strait of Hormuz if Washington targets the country’s infrastructure.
- US raids hit coordination infrastructure and shipping-related sites in Iran, including Jask near Hormuz.
- Missile strike near Ahvaz kills 4 and wounds 5; raids also reported at Bandar Abbas and an underground complex near Mehiz.
- Iranian drones target Erbil airport base in Iraq, no casualties.
- US forces fire on tanker attempting to breach blockade, render ship inoperable.
- Trump and Netanyahu to meet in Washington for the first time since February war.
Ground and air campaign
Centcom stated that its latest raids hit Iranian military coordination infrastructure and sites used for attacks on commercial shipping near the strait. In Khuzestan province, a missile strike killed at least four people and wounded five near Ahvaz, Iranian outlets reported. Other raids were recorded at Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf and at an underground missile complex in the Mehiz area. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reacting to a separate shooting in the West Bank that left four Palestinians dead, said Israel would “respond with force to the terrorists.”
Diplomacy amid attrition
President Donald Trump told reporters that Washington and Tehran are “talking seriously”, though he added he is “not in a hurry”. Behind closed doors, the Wall Street Journal described his posture as “revenge mode”, while the New York Times reported that Iran is prepared to strike Tel Aviv if Trump carries out his threats. Eighteen days after the US resumed attacks, the conflict has entered a grinding phase of attrition with no visible path to de-escalation.
Trump and Netanyahu will meet in Washington on Tuesday, their first face-to-face session since the February war with Iran. The White House has also threatened to freeze previously frozen Iranian assets, and the Pentagon is readying a further retaliation for the strikes on its Gulf bases.
