Iran escalate attacks as fighting around Strait heats up

Kate Sullivan, Grant Smith, Eltaf Najafizada, Bloomberg News on Sep 1, 2026

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. launched a fresh wave of strikes against targets in Iran and the Islamic Republic said it retaliated, as the back-and-forth of fighting between the two escalated.

President Donald Trump said the U.S. strikes were in retaliation for Iran trying to put mines in the Strait of Hormuz and for an earlier attack on a military base in Jordan. He warned of more attacks to come if Tehran responded.

Within hours, Iran said its forces had launched a “decisive operation” against U.S. bases in the region, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the new fighting “only tightened the lock on the Strait of Hormuz,” IRIB reported.

Oil prices rose further on news of the strikes, with WTI crude spiking above $90 a barrel. European natural gas benchmark futures surged to their highest since January 2023. The latest escalation came a day after the first exchange of strikes between the two sides in about a month.

The renewed fighting followed weeks of relative calm, during which the Trump administration said it was pivoting from military action to applying economic measures to pressure Tehran. Oil shipments through Hormuz recovered to roughly half of pre-war levels as a result of the dip in attacks, thanks in part to clandestine shuttle runs from major Middle East producers.

Any sustained return to fighting risks driving up energy costs and inflation, unnerving global investors and complicating Republicans’ efforts to retain control of the U.S. Congress in November’s midterm elections.

For Iran, a resumption in near prewar shipping volumes risks undermining its leverage in any future peace negotiations.

U.S. Central Command said Tuesday’s strikes were on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets following Iran’s attacks on commercial shipping and American forces in the region. Explosions were heard in Bandar Abbas, Chabahar and Kuhestak in southern Iran, state-run Nour news reported Tuesday. IRIB reported that two civilians were killed in Hormozgan.

The latest U.S. strikes came a day after two oil supertankers attempting to exit the strait were hit in quick succession by projectiles, maritime security consultant Marisks said. While no one claimed responsibility for the tanker attacks, the reports followed a resumption of tit-for-tat strikes between the U.S. and Iran over control of the chokepoint.

On Monday, the U.S. said it targeted Iranian rocket launchers that were preparing to send mines into the strait, and Iran retaliated with attacks on the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.

Amid the escalation, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sought to play down the importance of Hormuz on Tuesday, saying the strait would eventually become irrelevant due to the increased use of oil pipelines. The comment appeared not to take into account the time needed to effect such a major switch in energy supply routes, while other key commodities, including aluminum and fertilizer, would still need to use the strait.

The U.S. and Iran have issued conflicting reports on safety of navigation in the strait, with a top U.S. commander declaring “international shipping lanes are open” after American forces had cleared Iranian mines. That statement, which followed similar claims from Trump, has been privately doubted by U.S. allies, Bloomberg reported last week.

On Monday, Trump called the conflict a “little war.” Even so, there’s no sign of an imminent resolution, and oil is up more than 45% since the start of the year.

The State Department issued a regional security alert Tuesday warning Americans in the region about the “complex” environment and “the potential of unforeseen escalation.”

The U.S. and Iran have shown little appetite to resume negotiations since the collapse of an interim peace agreement signed more than two months ago.

Speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Kyrgyzstan, Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian was downbeat about the prospect of a resumption in formal talks.

“Repeated U.S. violations of commitments under the Islamabad memorandum showed that even when the parties reach a political framework to stop the conflict and begin negotiations, the lack of effective enforcement mechanisms and a return to a policy of pressure and threats can cause diplomacy to fail,” he said in comments carried by the state-run IRNA.

Qatar said on Tuesday that mediation efforts to break the impasse are ongoing, while Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told leaders of the SCO he “firmly believes” the peace framework agreed upon in Islamabad in June offers the best prospect for peace.

Qatar and Pakistan are the main mediators between the two sides.

Pezeshkian’s appearance at the SCO came over a week after the U.S. launched a campaign to further isolate Iran, warning countries not to engage with the Islamic Republic or face punishment from Washington. There’s been little sign of Iran’s business or trade partners responding to the threat so far, and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among SCO attendees saying they wanted to strengthen relations.

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(With assistance from Weilun Soon.)

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