Missiles and drones struck five Gulf states on Sunday, hours after US Central Command announced it had hit approximately 140 military targets across Iran, including missile and drone launch sites, naval installations and ammunition storage facilities. The overnight barrage landed across the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain, marking a sharp reversal of a fragile truce that had held between Tehran and Washington. Iranian state media reported one army officer killed in the US strikes.
The escalation unfolded against a backdrop of deteriorating conditions in the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which roughly a fifth of global energy exports once flowed before the conflict began in late February. On Saturday, Iran attacked a Cyprus-flagged container ship, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared the strategic passage “closed until further notice,” barring all vessel transit. That announcement came just hours before the Iranian counterattack against multiple Gulf states.
In Qatar, the Ministry of Interior confirmed three people, including one child, sustained injuries from falling shrapnel. Qatari officials condemned what they described as a “dangerous escalation” that would undermine diplomatic efforts. The UAE reported that its air defence systems engaged incoming missiles and drones, though authorities later stated the “missile threats” had remained outside the country’s borders. Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, experienced missile alerts for the third time on Sunday. Kuwait’s military confirmed it was intercepting incoming fire, while Oman’s state news agency reported that drones had targeted multiple sites in the Musandam governorate, an exclave extending into the Strait of Hormuz.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed responsibility for targeting a US radar installation in Kuwait and destroying a command-and-control centre and drone hangars at a US military base in Jordan. Jordanian authorities stated that three Iranian missiles fell within their territory without causing casualties.
What changed: the latest exchange represents the most significant escalation since Iran and Washington signed a memorandum of understanding in mid-June aimed at restoring maritime traffic through the strait. Under that agreement, Tehran consented to allow vessels to resume passage, but only through a shipping route it had designated. Ships attempting to use alternative lanes closer to the Omani coast have faced attacks. This insistence on controlling the transit corridor has become a central friction point in ongoing negotiations between the two countries.
US President Donald Trump, seeking to lower energy prices ahead of November midterm elections, authorized the strikes on Iran following attacks on commercial shipping. Last week Trump stated he believed the agreement with Iran was “finished,” though he later indicated he had accepted Tehran’s request to continue talks.
Despite Sunday’s violence, officials from Oman and Iran said they would pursue technical and political discussions regarding navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. The two countries’ foreign ministers had met on Saturday specifically to address maritime traffic issues. Tehran, however, stopped short of committing to unrestricted passage through the waterway, which sits within the territorial waters of Iran and Oman but has historically been treated as an international shipping lane.
The conflict began in late February when the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran that resulted in the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was laid to rest this week. Iran’s effective control of the bottleneck has pushed oil and gas prices to multiyear highs, and with technical talks still unresolved, the question of whether commercial vessels can reliably transit the strait remains unanswered.