{"id":3660,"date":"2026-07-15T23:34:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T23:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=3660"},"modified":"2026-07-15T23:34:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T23:34:36","slug":"us-reimposes-blockade-and-steps-up-strikes-as-iran-threatens-to-halt-mideast-energy-exports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=3660","title":{"rendered":"US reimposes blockade and steps up strikes as Iran threatens to halt Mideast energy exports"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 The U.S. reimposed a naval blockade on Iran and intensified\u00a0its airstrike campaign\u00a0Wednesday in retaliation for Tehran\u2019s attacks on ships trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. The American strikes hit an Iranian army barracks, killed at least seven troops and wounded hundreds of people across the country, Iranian officials said.<\/p>\n

Read more Oil change prices rising in Tucson amid global supply chain disruptions<\/a><\/p>\n

Days of back-and-forth strikes by the U.S. and Iran across the Middle East \u2014 and renewed threats to the\u00a0waterway crucial to global energy supplies\u00a0\u2014 have shredded the interim deal to end the conflict and the region could tip back into all-out war.<\/p>\n

The U.S. first imposed\u00a0a blockade in April\u00a0and lifted it last month after signing the\u00a0interim deal\u00a0that paused the fighting and set a 60-day period for negotiations over issues such as Iran\u2019s nuclear program. Those talks have stalled as fighting over the Strait of Hormuz has intensified.<\/p>\n

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When the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran effectively closed the waterway to shipping traffic \u2014 a move that sent the\u00a0price of oil, fertilizer and many other goods soaring\u00a0far beyond the region and gave Iran major leverage in negotiations. Those rising prices\u00a0pose a particular challenge\u00a0to U.S. President Donald Trump and his Republican Party, which hopes to retain control of Congress in November elections. But Washington has struggled to successfully reopen the waterway.<\/p>\n

About 24 hours after the blockade went into effect, the U.S. military opened fire on and disabled a merchant vessel Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s parliament speaker and lead negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said Iran was prepared for a fuller military confrontation if the U.S. does not live up to the terms of the interim deal, and Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened to halt all energy exports from the Middle East over the blockade.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one,\u201d the Guard said.<\/p>\n

Soon after the U.S. launched its third wave of strikes in 24 hours, Trump said Iran was ready to strike a peace deal, but he did not elaborate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t like what we\u2019re doing, and they do want to settle. We\u2019ll find out whether or not we settle with them, or we just finish it off,\u201d he said Wednesday at a defense summit at the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

Both the US and Iran launch attacks as the blockade is reimposed<\/h3>\n

The U.S. carried out a wave of strikes, hitting dozens of targets overnight, the military\u2019s Central Command said Wednesday, and then resumed striking Iran during daylight \u2014 an unusual move that further signaled the increasing tempo of the attacks. Another wave of strikes began late Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Central Command said it spotted Curacao-flagged oil tanker Belma sailing toward Kharg Island and, after the ship \u201cignored multiple warnings,\u201d a U.S. aircraft disabled the merchant vessel by firing hellfire missiles into the ship\u2019s smokestack.<\/p>\n

In addition to the now-disabled Belma, the U.S. military said it also had to speak with two other commercial vessels, but they complied with their instructions to turn away.<\/p>\n

The U.S. military disabled at least eight merchant vessels during the first round of the blockade,\u00a0including one strike that left three sailors dead.<\/p>\n

Among the U.S. military\u2019s targets this week was Greater Tunb Island, which is viewed as a strategic point in the Strait of Hormuz. Central Command said the attack targeted Iranian defense and missile sites.<\/p>\n

Iran took control of three islands \u2014\u00a0Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb\u00a0\u2014 from what would become the United Arab Emirates in 1971. The UAE has sought to reclaim them.<\/p>\n

Some analysts have suggested that if the U.S. seized the islands, they could allow it to control the strait.<\/p>\n

The U.S. military said its bombing campaign hit targets along Iran\u2019s southern coast in Bandar Abbas, Khormuj, Ahvaz, Qeshm, Bushehr and Kuh-e Stak.<\/p>\n

Read more Crash forces road closure in Pima County<\/a><\/p>\n

Another strike targeted a barracks for Iran\u2019s 388th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, which operates tanks and armored vehicles, in Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iranian state television reported. The report said Americans fired at least 13 missiles in the attack and the seven dead included conscripts and career soldiers. A number of troops were wounded.<\/p>\n

More than 35 people have been killed and more than 300 wounded by U.S. airstrikes in recent days, said Hossein Kermanpour, a spokesperson for the Iranian Health Ministry. At least 72 people are hospitalized, he added.<\/p>\n

Kermanpour did not break down the figures between civilians and combatants.<\/p>\n

The announcement marked the first overall toll given by Iranian authorities for this round of fighting. The number of wounded was far larger than for any other recent violence between Iran and the U.S. The army said it would make \u201ca decisive response,\u201d according to state TV.<\/p>\n

U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads Central Command, said in a statement that Iran had launched dozens of missiles and drones at neighboring Gulf Arab countries.<\/p>\n

Missile-alert warnings sounded Wednesday in Bahrain and Kuwait as they faced incoming Iranian fire \u2014 a daily occurrence recently. In a post on X, Bahrain\u2019s Interior Ministry urged people to \u201chead to the nearest safe place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jordan said it shot down three incoming Iranian missiles. Iran claimed attacks on the three nations, all of which host U.S. forces.<\/p>\n

In a statement published online, Qalibaf said the United States had not lived up to the terms of the interim peace deal, which he said included \u201cIranian arrangements\u201d over the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that we have entered the implementation phase, the United States, having exhausted its legal and diplomatic options, is trying to undermine those Iranian arrangements through force,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Qalibaf\u2019s comments appeared aimed at critics within Iran who oppose negotiations with the U.S. He argued that negotiations should not be equated with compromise or surrender, but as part of a broader strategy of resistance.<\/p>\n

The Strait of Hormuz remains at the heart of the fighting<\/h3>\n

The latest fighting is focused on the\u00a0Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world\u2019s oil and natural gas trade passes during peacetime. How to reopen the strait has bedeviled the U.S. since Iran choked it off in the early days of the war.<\/p>\n

During the interim deal, some ships began moving through the passage using a route near Oman overseen by the U.S. military that is outside Tehran\u2019s control.<\/p>\n

In recent days, Iran attacked ships using that route \u2014 and back-and-forth attacks ensued. The U.S. has\u00a0threatened to reopen the strait by force\u00a0\u2014 but experts say that would require a much bigger armada if not tens of thousands of ground troops. Imposing the blockade is another way to put pressure on Iran.<\/p>\n

But in the meantime, oil prices are rising. The price for Brent crude oil, the international standard,\u00a0traded above $85 a barrel\u00a0on Wednesday \u2014 more than 15% higher than the price before the war, but still well below the nearly $120 reached at the height of the conflict.<\/p>\n

Analysts with the International Monetary Fund warned Wednesday that while a surplus of oil had kept prices low, \u201cmuch of that room has now been used up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless inventories are replenished, the world will start from a weaker position when the next shock comes,\u201d Azim Sadikov and Jean-Marc Natal wrote in a blog post.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin, Will Weissert, Collin Binkley and Fatima Hussein in Washington, Christopher Weber in Los Angeles, and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Read more Suni Lee announces return to gymnastics about two years before the Los Angeles Olympics<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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