Air raid alarms went off in Bahrain twice within two hours on Monday, July 13. The island kingdom hosts the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it had struck Sheikh Isa Air Base there as the second phase of its retaliation for American attacks.
It was the latest turn in a weekend that dragged the Gulf states back into the war. Here is how it unfolded.
A burning container ship
The trigger came on Sunday, July 12. Iran hit a Cyprus-flagged container ship in the Strait of Hormuz, and the crew abandoned it in flames. US Central Command reported “significant engineroom damage” and one missing crew member. India’s Ministry of External Affairs said every sailor aboard was an Indian national, and New Delhi said it was working with Oman on a search and rescue. The British military’s UKMTO centre said the vessel had been hugging the Omani shoreline, the route ships have used to stay out of Iranian waters.
The Revolutionary Guard saw it differently. It said several vessels had ignored its warnings and an approved route, and that one was “struck by a warning shot and brought to a stop.”
The United States answered in the early hours. Central Command said it hit some 140 targets, among them missile and drone launch sites and ammunition dumps. “Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote online.
Gulf neighbours under fire
Tehran then turned on the countries that host American forces. Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Jordan all reported incoming fire. Qatar’s interior ministry said three people, one of them a child, were wounded by shrapnel from intercepted missiles. Jordan said three Iranian missiles caused minor damage and no injuries. In Oman, state media said drones struck sites near the strait, only a day after Omani and Iranian foreign ministers had met to discuss it. The UAE reported sirens, but said no missiles crossed its borders.
On Monday Bahrain’s military accused Iran of aiming at civilians, which contradicted Tehran’s claim that it was hitting only military sites. Iran also said it had destroyed radar systems in Oman. Jordan said it shot down four missiles.
Blockade and a closed strait
Iran says it alone must control the strait. About a fifth of traded oil and natural gas passed through before the war began on February 28, and the two sides agreed to a 60-day interim ceasefire on June 17. It has not held. “The era of one-sided deals is OVER,” Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf wrote.
Donald Trump then said the US was reinstating a blockade of Iranian shipping. America would be known as “the guardian of the Hormuz strait,” he said, and would charge 20% on all cargo shipped. Central Command said it would begin enforcing the blockade on vessels travelling to or from Iranian ports. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi mocked the claim, saying Iran “has always been the GUARDIAN” of the strait.
US forces struck for a third straight night. Central Command said three Corsair unmanned surface vessels hit a maintenance facility at Bandar Abbas naval base, which it described as the first combat use of sea drones by US forces. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was deeply concerned by the escalation.
Sources
- US attacks Iran over ship being hit in Strait of Hormuz; Tehran responds by hitting Arab states | The Star
- Iran war: Trump reinstates US blockade of Strait of Hormuz
