WASHINGTON – The interim peace between the United States and Iran effectively collapsed after US forces reimposed a naval blockade and launched another wave of air strikes, while Tehran attacked more oil tankers sailing through the Strait of Hormuz.
US President Donald Trump’s decision to restart a blockade of Iranian ports overnight came after hostilities between the two sides worsened in the past week.
Iran fired ballistic missiles at a US airbase in Jordan on July 14, and the US attacked Iranian targets for five hours in a battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz that has pushed up oil prices to four-week highs.
US forces launched waves of attacks for the third successive night after Iran said on July 11 it was closing the strait, prompting Trump to reinstate a blockade of Iranian shipping and propose charging a 20 per cent fee to guard the vital waterway.
The strikes have increased doubts that an interim deal agreed in June will lead to a permanent halt in a more than four-month-old war that has disrupted global energy supplies and raised fears of a rise in inflation across the world.
Regional analysts said the hostilities remained within controlled boundaries for now, with both sides seeking leverage for an eventual peace deal, but that there was still a risk of fighting spinning out of control.
“I doubt the two sides will resume a full war, especially as Trump will suffer, though there is also a distinct possibility that the Iranians will overplay their hand. That is true of Trump too, of course,” said Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center.
The war has proved unpopular in the US, where petrol prices have risen since the start of the conflict, with congressional elections looming in November.
Oil prices rose again on July 14, with Brent crude futures gaining 5 per cent to hit US$87.49 per barrel, the highest since June 12 but still well below the peak since the war began.
The US and Israel attacked Iran on Feb 28. Iran, in turn, attacked Israel and Gulf states that host US bases.
The war also reignited conflict between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. It killed thousands and displaced millions, the vast majority in Iran and Lebanon.
Lebanon and Israel were set to resume talks on July 14 in Rome, with Beirut seeking progress towards securing an Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon under a US-brokered deal.
Control of Hormuz
In the latest strikes in the wider war, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said a US air base in Jordan was targeted with ballistic missiles.
Jordan’s armed forces said they intercepted and shot down four missiles that entered Jordanian airspace from Iranian territory.
The attack on Jordan was on a smaller scale than at the height of the war, when the kingdom at times came under a much heavier barrage of missiles and drones.
“We have returned to the boundaries of escalation prior to signing the interim deal, a low-intensity conflict that will not produce any clear victory for anyone,” said Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King’s College London, commenting on the broader regional conflict.
Iranian media reported US strikes on a number of cities and said four people were wounded.
Several explosions were heard in Bushehr and Choghadak, according to the news agency Fars, and IRNA quoted a provincial official as saying four areas of Bushehr city were hit.
Hostilities have intensified since Iran said late on July 11 it had closed the Strait of Hormuz after firing a warning shot that struck a vessel travelling on what it said was an unauthorised route.
Trump said on July 13 on Truth Social that the strait was open and would remain open, with or without Iran.
“We are reinstating THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE,” Trump said, announcing that the US would charge a 20 per cent fee on all cargo shipped through it.
Iran has also sought to establish its control over the strait and a system for collecting fees, warning vessels not to sail without its authorisation.
Iran’s top joint military command said the US had no role in determining the future of the waterway.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X that Tehran was the guardian of the strait and would remain so “forever”, adding in response to Trump: “20 per cent is of course too much. We will be fair.”
Before the conflict began in February, around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas traffic passed through the Strait of Hormuz daily, delivering more than 15 million barrels of fuel to global markets worth at least US$1.2 billion (S$1.55 billion).
If the US were to impose a 20 per cent fee, it could generate around US$240 million a day.
The UN shipping agency pushed back against Trump’s proposal, saying it opposes any fees for straits used in international navigation and stressing that there is no legal basis for introducing mandatory tolls on strait transits.
Tankers targeted
The UAE Ministry of Defence said on July 13 that Iranian cruise missiles struck two Emirati oil tankers while transiting the southern lane of the strait in Omani territorial waters.
One Indian crew member was killed and eight others were wounded, the ministry said on July 14.
The IRGC said two “offending” supertankers were hit and disabled in the strait after ignoring repeated warnings and turning off navigation systems.
The IRGC’s statement did not name the vessels or say whether they were the same tankers cited by the UAE ministry. But it accused the US of “inciting vessels to use an illegal route” and warned that cooperation with the “aggressor enemy” would result in damage, delays in reopening the waterway and a global energy crisis.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said a tanker was hit by an unknown projectile while travelling 40 nautical miles north-east of Oman’s Qalhat.
Reuters could not immediately verify whether the UKMTO report referred to the same incident as the one reported by the UAE Ministry of Defence.
The US Navy-led Joint Maritime Information Centre said a blockade of Iran would take effect at 8pm GMT on July 14 (4am on July 15 Singapore time) and apply to all vessel traffic regardless of flag, covering the entire Iranian coastline including ports and oil terminals. REUTERS
