US and Iran trade strikes for first time in a month
Welcome to our live coverage as hostilities between the US and Iran flared again for the first time in a month, with American strikes on Iran prompting retaliation from Tehran.
A supertanker caught fire and was brought to a complete halt after hitting two naval mines in the southern strait of Hormuz, Iran state TV reported on Monday, citing a statement from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The IRGC said the tanker had been attempting to pass through the waterway illegally. It did not identify the vessel or provide information about its crew. It warned that other ships violating its security rules would face the same fate and said compliance with its regulations for passage through the strait was mandatory.
On Sunday, the US said it carried out airstrikes on Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island in the strait, with an American official saying the IRGC was preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the narrow waterway.
The IRGC said on Monday it attacked two US military airbases with ballistic missiles in Washington-allied Jordan, causing “heavy damage”, state media reported. Jordan’s army said it had intercepted eight missiles, without stating their origin.
Iran said later it had targeted US military personnel at an airbase in the United Arab Emirates. Donald Trump later claimed on social media that Iran’s energy hub of Kharg Island was “being blown to smithereens”.
In other developments:
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Iran’s supreme leader called the US and Israel enemies of all Islamic nations. In a written message issued six months on from the start of the war, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei also urged rulers of Muslim nations to “know your real enemy, understand its plans and confront it”, the official Irna news agency reported.
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Israel’s Shin Bet security agency says it urgently evacuated prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s oldest son from the US due to a threat against him. In a brief statement the Associated Press obtained on Sunday, the Shin Bet confirmed there had been a “significant threat” to Yair Netanyahu, without elaborating.
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US treasury secretary Scott Bessent will step up efforts to isolate Iran economically as he hosts G20 counterparts this week, a US official has said.
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Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian is due to take part in a summit starting on Monday of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional bloc that seeks to be a counter-influence to the west. Russia’s Vladimir Putin is expected to hold separate bilateral talks with Pezeshkian and China’s Xi Jinping, among other leaders, a Kremlin spokesperson said.
Key events
Head of National Iranian Oil Company dismisses Trump’s claim of Kharg Island attack
Hours after the attacks, the US president, Donald Trump, claimed in a social media post – featuring an AI video showing oil infrastructure exploding – that Iran’s energy hub of Kharg island was being “blown to smithereens”, without any supporting evidence.
Hamid Bovard, CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company, mocked Trump’s post, saying that oil operations there are continuing.
“Trump’s tweets are laughable and conditions in Kharg are calm and appropriate,” Nournews cited him as saying, adding that the island had been bombed repeatedly by US and Israeli forces in the past, but oil workers had not allowed operations to stop “even for a moment”.
Kharg Island is a major Iranian energy hub responsible for handling about 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports, making it among the country’s most sensitive economic targets.
Trump has previously threatened to seize the island, which hosts vast storage facilities, but has rowed back on his threats, perhaps knowing that any takeover would require the US to put boots on the ground, exposing American forces to Iranian attacks.
US and Iran trade strikes for first time in a month
Welcome to our live coverage as hostilities between the US and Iran flared again for the first time in a month, with American strikes on Iran prompting retaliation from Tehran.
A supertanker caught fire and was brought to a complete halt after hitting two naval mines in the southern strait of Hormuz, Iran state TV reported on Monday, citing a statement from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The IRGC said the tanker had been attempting to pass through the waterway illegally. It did not identify the vessel or provide information about its crew. It warned that other ships violating its security rules would face the same fate and said compliance with its regulations for passage through the strait was mandatory.
On Sunday, the US said it carried out airstrikes on Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island in the strait, with an American official saying the IRGC was preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the narrow waterway.
The IRGC said on Monday it attacked two US military airbases with ballistic missiles in Washington-allied Jordan, causing “heavy damage”, state media reported. Jordan’s army said it had intercepted eight missiles, without stating their origin.
Iran said later it had targeted US military personnel at an airbase in the United Arab Emirates. Donald Trump later claimed on social media that Iran’s energy hub of Kharg Island was “being blown to smithereens”.
In other developments:
-
Iran’s supreme leader called the US and Israel enemies of all Islamic nations. In a written message issued six months on from the start of the war, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei also urged rulers of Muslim nations to “know your real enemy, understand its plans and confront it”, the official Irna news agency reported.
-
Israel’s Shin Bet security agency says it urgently evacuated prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s oldest son from the US due to a threat against him. In a brief statement the Associated Press obtained on Sunday, the Shin Bet confirmed there had been a “significant threat” to Yair Netanyahu, without elaborating.
-
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent will step up efforts to isolate Iran economically as he hosts G20 counterparts this week, a US official has said.
-
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian is due to take part in a summit starting on Monday of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional bloc that seeks to be a counter-influence to the west. Russia’s Vladimir Putin is expected to hold separate bilateral talks with Pezeshkian and China’s Xi Jinping, among other leaders, a Kremlin spokesperson said.
