U.S. Strikes Southern Iran, Iran Hits U.S. Bases in Kuwait and Bahrain
U.S. Central Command announced it had struck more than 80 targets in southern Iran.
MIDDLE EAST — Three commercial tankers were struck while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on July 7 in attacks that Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the United States attributed to Iran, and U.S. Central Command announced it had struck more than 80 targets in southern Iran the same evening, the first exchange of fire in the waterway since a stand-down between American and Iranian forces took hold nine days earlier.
The strikes came as U.S. and Iranian negotiators continued talks under the framework the two governments signed June 17 to end Operation Epic Fury and reopen the strait to commercial traffic.
A Qatari-owned liquefied natural gas tanker caught fire after being struck near Limah, Oman. A Saudi crude oil tanker was hit exiting the strait near Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, and a third tanker sustained minor damage near the Musandam Peninsula.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center (UKMTO) and the Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC) each reported “no casualties or environmental impact” from the three incidents.
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the Gulf Cooperation Council condemned the attacks and held Iran responsible.
The U.S. Treasury Department revoked the license authorizing Iran to sell oil on international markets, and CENTCOM reported its forces struck Iranian targets that evening. Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded with a formal statement calling the U.S. actions violations of the memorandum ending the war.
Early on July 8, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had struck U.S. bases in Kuwait and Bahrain in retaliation for the American strikes, and Kuwait’s military said its air defenses were confronting the missile and drone attack, the first Iranian fire on U.S. positions in the Gulf since the late-June stand-down.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry told the Gulf states hosting U.S. forces they would be complicit in any aggression against Iran and said its forces would “target the source and origin of the aggression,” while Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf stated Washington had violated the memorandum and Tehran raised the prospect of halting the talks held since June 17.
The Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, which the two governments signed June 17, followed more than three months of war between the United States, Israel, and Iran that began February 28 and an April ceasefire that repeatedly came under strain.
A new round of fighting had also broke out June 26-29, when Iran struck two ships in the Hormuz corridor, U.S. forces struck ten Iranian targets, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired missiles at U.S. positions in Kuwait and Bahrain before the stand-down took hold.
Fire Aboard Qatari LNG Tanker as Three Vessels Struck in One Day
The Joint Maritime Information Center’s Update 068, covering the period through July 7, listed three attacks that day, each involving a tanker struck by an unidentified projectile while transiting the strait.
The first, logged as UKMTO Warning 080-26, struck a tanker on its port-side engine room roughly eight nautical miles east of Limah, Oman, igniting a fire as the vessel traveled southbound out of the strait.
UKMTO and JMIC withheld the vessel’s name. The location, vessel type, and timing are consistent with Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement, which said its LNG tanker Al Rekayyat was struck near the strait the same day, though neither UKMTO nor JMIC has published a name linking the two directly.
A second incident, UKMTO Warning 081-26, struck a very large crude carrier on its port side roughly 16 nautical miles east of Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, as the vessel exited the strait; JMIC’s summary states the vessel proceeded to its next port of call with no crew injuries reported.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs identified the tanker struck that day as its crude oil carrier Wedyan, and reporting citing UKMTO places the Wedyan strike at the same Khor Fakkan location JMIC lists for Warning 081-26.
The third incident, UKMTO Warning 082-26, struck a tanker approximately six nautical miles east of the Musandam Peninsula, Oman, at 1:05 p.m. UTC.
UKMTO’s own warning attributes the strike to an unknown uncrewed aerial vehicle; JMIC’s Update 068 table describes the same warning number as a strike from an unknown projectile.
Neither UKMTO nor JMIC named the vessel; U.S. Central Command’s July 7 press release identified the third vessel struck that day as the Liberian-flagged M/T Cyprus Prosperity, alongside the Marshall Islands-flagged Al Rekayyat and the Saudi Arabia-flagged Wedyan.
Assessment: UKMTO’s warning for the Musandam-area strike attributes the weapon to a UAV, while JMIC’s own table entry for the same warning number describes an unknown projectile; the discrepancy between the two documents from the same reporting chain remains open as of July 8.
The distinction matters for attribution, since a UAV and a surface- or air-launched projectile point to different launch platforms and, potentially, different points of origin.
CENTCOM’s press release named the vessel as the Cyprus Prosperity but did not identify the weapon, so a corrected UKMTO or JMIC advisory is the most likely source to settle which system was used.
