US Hits 140 Iranian Targets After Tehran Sets Cyprus-Flagged Ship Ablaze in Strait of Hormuz, Iran Strikes Five Gulf Countries in Response

Since the US-Israel war on Iran began February 28, a ceasefire and a June memorandum of understanding briefly slowed the fighting. Both are now in tatters, and the fighting that resumed this week has widened to five Gulf countries.

What happened overnight

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it fired on a Cyprus-flagged container ship, the MV GFS Galaxy, after the vessel allegedly ignored orders to stay on an approved shipping route hugging Oman's coastline. US Central Command said the ship suffered "significant engine room damage," caught fire, and its crew abandoned ship in a lifeboat, with one crew member reported missing, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency.

Iran then declared the Strait of Hormuz closed "until further notice," the third such closure declaration since the ceasefire, according to the BBC. IRGC navy statements said the vessel had "jeopardised maritime security by switching off its systems."

Central Command responded with what it called its largest strike wave of the week: 140 targets hit in a single night, part of more than 300 targets struck over three consecutive nights, according to Dawn, citing Reuters. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on social media: "Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay."

Iran hits five countries

Tehran's retaliation spread further than in prior rounds. The IRGC said it struck Jordan's Prince Hassan Air Base, destroying its command and control center and MQ-9 drone hangars. It also claimed strikes on a US radar site in Kuwait, refueling platforms in Oman, and Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, where it said it destroyed a fighter jet maintenance center.

A US official disputed the Jordan claim directly, telling CBS News there were no American casualties and no reports of major damage to US locations there, and that "the overwhelming majority of Iranian missiles and drones launched were intercepted or shot down." That leaves a factual gap between Tehran's stated battle damage and Washington's denial, unresolved as of Sunday.

The UAE and Kuwait said air defenses engaged incoming missiles and drones. Bahrain, home to the US Navy's 5th Fleet, sounded air raid sirens. Explosions were heard in Doha. According to Dawn, this marks the first time since early April that Iran has struck Qatar and the first time since early May it has hit the UAE, an expansion of the target list beyond Kuwait and Bahrain.

Iranian state media reported one death on its side: Lieutenant Hamidreza Dehghani, described as a navy officer, killed in a strike on the port of Jask in southern Iran, according to the Mehr and Tasnim news agencies.

The diplomatic wreckage

Qatar's foreign ministry condemned the Iranian strikes as a "dangerous escalation," naming Jordan, the UAE, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait as targets. Australia's government, through a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Penny Wong, called on Iran to "abide by its obligations" under the ceasefire agreement and keep the strait open.

Iran's chief negotiator and parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, posted a screenshot of the June memorandum of understanding, highlighting language that Iran would "make arrangements" regarding the strait, and wrote: "The era of one-sided deals is OVER. We told you: keep your word or pay the price."

Tehran argues the June MOU gave it authority to set navigation rules for the strait, and that the US and its allies have not honored the deal's terms, according to Ghalibaf's public statements. Mohsen Rezaee, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader, went further, telling the semi-official ISNA agency the strait was "more important than dozens of atomic bombs" and that Iran would protect it. Whether the MOU actually grants Iran unilateral control over an international shipping lane carrying a fifth of the world's oil and gas, as it claimed before the war, is the exact dispute that talks in Oman are supposed to resolve, and it remains unsettled.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said talks with Oman took place Sunday aimed at "coordinating between the two littoral states on arrangements for the administration of traffic and navigation through the Strait of Hormuz." Those talks, according to CBS News, have not resolved anything yet.

What's unresolved

Central Command maintains commercial vessels continue transiting the strait despite Iran's closure declaration, per Dawn's reporting, while Iran insists it is enforcing a blockade. Both claims cannot fully be true at once, and no independent shipping data in these reports settles which side is accurate. The Jordan base damage dispute is likewise unverified by any neutral party. With gasoline prices already a flashpoint heading into November's congressional elections, according to Dawn, the next test is whether the Oman-brokered talks produce an actual navigation framework, or whether the fourth round of strikes is already being drafted.